Into the Light
by ImaginexxxBaggins
Summary: "The human who uses this note can neither go to heaven or hell." Instead, they become the permanent owner of the Death Note; a Shinigami. When Mello experiences this first-hand, he knows he has to find a way to undo what has happened to him. "A Shinigami can escape this fate with the help of a human." Unfortunately, Mello can only think of one human to help; the current "L", Near.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer/Author's Note/Introduction/Foreword-Thingy:** _First off: This was a story I wrote for three of my friends to enjoy. One of my friends told me I should upload it onto this site. I'm taking her advice and doing this. I did this totally and simply just for fun, so please try not to judge this to harshly._

 _This whole story stemmed from the theory that I had, and I'm not sure if it's officially cannon or not. "A human who uses the Death Note cannot get into either heaven or hell." So, the theory is that they would then become a Shinigami and probably lose all memories of being a human. But what if there was some way around forgetting and someone was to remember being human? And what if they found a way that they could possibly go to an afterlife after-all? Anyway, so forgive me if I make up random Death Note rules or leave some plot holes or something like that. Also, I apologize for when I try to describe what someone's wearing, because this is Death Note and everyone wears the strangest things. (I'm looking at Mello and Near mostly, cause they're who come up the most, but everyone else isn't always much better *cough—Misa—cough*.) (I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote this, so ignore most of my weirdness. Thank you!)_

 _Now I don't think he actually did in the manga or the anime, but it was possible that Mello used the Death Note at one point in time. And if he did, he wouldn't be able to go to the afterlife. He'd end up as a Shinigami. And this is where this story comes from. Sorry for this disclaimer-thingy and here goes nothing as I attempt a fanfiction._ _J_

 _(When I use "he" in here, I'm probably talking about this guy in the first paragraph. Sorry if that's confusing, but he doesn't have a name yet.)_

 ** _The Shinigami Realm_**

1.

When he opened his eyes, he had no idea where he was. And for some reason, his whole vision seemed tinged with red. What was that about? He was lying flat on his back, staring up at the…well, he wasn't exactly sure what it was. It could have been a grey, dirty sky with threatening, storm-like clouds; or it could have been the roof of a huge underground cavern. However, from what he could see, there weren't any walls like you would expect to find in a cavern.

He rubbed a hand across his face. This red lighting was odd as well, while also playing havoc on his eyes. He sat up slowly, groaning as he did so.

"What the he…?" he muttered and trailed off. His voice sounded strange; it was rougher and hoarser than it should have been, though how he knew that he didn't know. Or couldn't remember. He looked around at his surroundings from a sitting position.

It was a bleak sight that greeted him. The ground was hard grey rock. Large jagged cliffs rose in the distance. The landscape was dotted with sharp-edged boulders, and there wasn't a tree or anything green in sight. In fact, everything was grey, with the occasional black or faded brown. The only thing in color was that weird red light he kept seeing, but he couldn't quite place where its source. He shook his head to clear it.

The thing was, he had no idea where he was. It felt like he had been doing something before this, something important, but he couldn't remember for the life of him what it was. There was something he should remember, something…

He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his head to his fist. What he wanted was in there, he knew it, it was so close but he couldn't catch hold of it. It was so close, so _near_ , it was painful…so close…near…near…

Shaking his head, he stood slowly and shakily. Maybe he'd remember soon, after he figured out who _he_ was, exactly. That's right, he couldn't remember his own name, much less where he'd come from. Or what he was doing here. Or what he'd been doing before. Or what it was that his brain was so desperately trying to remember.

His bangs fell over his eyes, and he pushed them back irritably. And then immediately ran a hand through his hair, because for some reason he couldn't exactly remember what it looked like. From what he could tell, it was cut neatly just above his shoulders and was a faded red-orange-blond color. He then looked over the rest of himself to figure out what exactly he was wearing. Some of it seemed vaguely familiar but in a messed-up way. He was wearing an unzipped black jacket with a collar of spiky black fur. Beneath that, he wore a sleeveless, shorter shirt, zipped but in a way that gave it a low, sharp cut collar. His pants were black and, though they weren't a really tight-fit, they weren't exactly loose either. The buckle on his belt was a large silver one with the design of an elaborate gothic cross in the center. Around his neck was a large object similar to a rosary, but with sharp, diamond shaped pieces of metal instead of beads. Every ten of those pieces was spaced apart with a bead shaped like a skull. He didn't like it, but for some reason felt like he probably shouldn't take it off.

Everything felt so wrong, and he didn't know why. He ran a hand through his hair and stared up at the sky/ceiling. He was breathing heavily.

"What's happening to me?" he asked no-one. "Someone…please…"

A noise behind him caused him to turn. His whole body tensed. There was a figure standing in the shadow of a large boulder. It was just a silhouette, but it seemed to be sort of hunched over.

"So, there's another one," said a gravelly voice, which he assumed belonged to the strange figure. "There's been quite a few new ones recently."

The silhouette gave a hoarse laugh, or what he assumed was a laugh.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Where am I? Who _am_ I, for that matter? I don't know what's happening, and I don't remember anything. Can you help me? Please…"

"Hah! Well, I suppose I can help, but not exactly the way you're thinking," the stranger said. "I guess I'd better explain myself first off. I'm a…well, maybe it's best if I show you and get this part over with."

The figure stepped away from the shadow of the rock and came into full view.

He gave a strangled shout and immediately reached for the gun that wasn't there (how'd he know he had a gun in the first place?).

"Who…what the hell are you?" he gasped. The creature before him made another one of his…its(?)...laughing noises. Its appearance was pretty terrifying, with a mouth stuck in a permanent demonic grin, ghostly white skin, and glowing red eyes. Everything about seemed trying to suggest sharpness and strange angles.

"I'm a Shinigami," the creature said. "My name is Ryuk."

"A…a Shinigami?" he asked. Something he had forgotten seemed like it was trying to click, but it hadn't. "Like, a god of death?"

"Yes," Ryuk said. "And this is the Shinigami realm, where we all live when we don't have business in the human world. Which rarely happens nowadays. Anyway, I'm guessing you'd like to know why you're here."

Ryuk stopped and looked at him. He nodded, unable to speak. This was, needless to say, really strange for him.

"Well, then," Ryuk began. "I assume you don't have any memories at the moment, am I right?"

"Yeah, I just remember waking up here. That's it, honestly."

"Hmm. Interesting, isn't it?" Ryuk muttered, almost to himself. "Well, I'll tell you what you are. You're a newly made Shinigami."

Everything seemed to stop. His breath caught in his throat.

"I'm…I'm a…Shinigami? Are you kidding me? I can't be a…that's ridiculous…I'm…I'm a…" his voice was breaking under the strain. His brain was pounding as it tried to remember what he was—or rather, what he had been before this nightmarish reality.

"I'm…I'm a god of death," he said in shock. He was staring at the ground in disbelief. "What the hell? I'm a freaking god of death."

Ryuk seemed mildly amused (as much as he could with that kind of face).

"Yes. So now that that's out of the way, I'll tell you what your job is here."

"You're…I mean, _we're_ gods of death, right? Don't we just kill people?"

"Well, it's a little more complicated than that. Sometimes humans just die, and it has nothing to do with us. Way back a ways, we Shinigami were much more involved in the human world. But that could lead to problems, and it was more likely that a Shinigami could be killed back then, though that's not really the reason we withdrew from the human world."

"Wait, did you say Shinigami could be killed? Wouldn't they be, I don't know, immortal or something?"

Ryuk looked at him in a funny way.

"You know, for someone who can't remember anything, you sure do ask a lot of questions."

He looked down at the ground in confusion and shook his head.

"Well, yeah but…it's weird, Ryuk. It's like I remember some things, basic things. And there's something else that's in there somewhere, but I can't seem to get ahold of. It's there, it's really near…" he trailed off, mumbling. Ryuk shrugged.

"Well, it's probably one of the side effects of being a new Shinigami. It's been so long I've forgotten what it's like. I've been around for a while. Anyway, you'll be over it eventually.

"Anyway, eventually the Shinigami got tired of dealing with humans and their world. The Shinigami king and all of us withdrew to our realm. Now most of us just sit up here and waste time playing stupid games and whatnot. You'll be considered strange if you actually kill a whole lot of people. Shinigami now only kill when they have to. See, that's how we Shinigami stay alive. We kill a human and get energy from their remaining lifespan."

"And how does a Shinigami kill someone?"

The moment he said it, he knew. Somehow, he knew how a Shinigami killed, how _anyone_ could kill if they had the right tools. One tool, in fact.

"You write their name in that notebook."

Ryuk pointed a claw at him. Or more specifically, at something hanging from his belt. He looked down and saw a book hanging where his gun should have been (again, why did he think he was supposed to have a gun?). He unclasped it and held it in both hands. The cover was leather and worn, but in a stylized way, like it had been made that way. Two words were painted in a strange looking writing style across the top: DEATH NOTE. He opened to the first page. Underneath an illustration, the same writing spelled out the heading: HOW TO USE.

His eyes skimmed down the list of rules. All he had time to read was the first one:

 _1)_ _The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die._

Ryuk began speaking again.

"You write whoever you want to kill in that notebook, and they'll die of a heart attack. Or something else, if you specify. All the rules are in there. But, like I said, most Shinigami only use their notebooks if absolutely necessary, and only because they need the life source of a human in order to survive. The others will look at you funny if you use your Death Note a whole lot."

"The others?" he asked, clipping the Death Note back on his belt. "There are other Shinigami here? Like nearby?"

Ryuk laughed. Somehow it seemed devoid of humor.

"Oh sure, there's plenty of them here. They're all lazy and boring. Nothing like humans."

"Like humans? Do you know many of those?"

"Well, let's just say I was one of those strange Shinigami, one who wasn't content to lay around here all day and do nothing. So I decided to visit the human world and cure my boredom for a while. But to do so, I kind of broke whatever you'd call the 'Shinigami Rules' or whatever around here. Not that anyone would actually do anything about it, but the king assigned me to show all the new guys around, as we're getting a lot of them these days, for various reasons. I didn't argue, 'cause what else am I supposed to do around here? Learn poker? Yeah, no. Anyway, come on."

Ryuk turned and started to walk away.

His brain was still swimming with what he'd just learned and with what he couldn't remember. One thing he knew: he didn't want to be left in this strange place by himself. At least, not until he could learn more.

"Hey!" he called, as Ryuk started to leave. "Are you just going to leave me?"

Ryuk paused and looked over his shoulder.

"'Course not. Follow me, I'll show you around. Man, what I wouldn't do for an apple right about now."

The last part seemed to be more to Ryuk himself than him. He followed after Ryuk, casting a glance up at the dirty grey sky.

 _Might as well get used to it_ , he thought to himself. He lowered his eyes, once again tried to remember something, and with that, the New Shinigami followed after Ryuk.

"Where are we going?" he asked, catching up to Ryuk.

"I'm gonna show you around the place."

"Oh, okay." He fell silent for a while. Then, as his brain was still pulling at the threads of distant memories, he thought of something.

"Ryuk? How do Shinigami know every human's name? Do they just automatically know?"

Ryuk seemed to smile a little wider.

"No, not exactly. It's our eyes. Shinigami eyes allow the owner to see the name and remaining lifespan of whichever human they're looking at."

Suddenly, the red lighting made sense. It wasn't the lighting. It was his eyes. His own eyes were making him see like this. He rubbed a hand over his temple.

"I've got a lot to get used to," he muttered to himself. Ryuk laughed again.

"Yeah you do," he said, and they went on in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

The New Shinigami was sitting on a boulder off in one corner of the Shinigami realm (or that's what it felt like. He honestly had no idea where the actual end of the Shinigami realm was, or if it even had one). He drew one leg up to him and rested his arm on it.

Ryuk was right. It was pretty boring here. And depressing, though he assumed that _that_ wasn't exactly normal.

Ryuk had shown him around the place (not that there was much to see) and shown him to the other Shinigami (it hadn't exactly been an introduction, as no-one seemed really interested in any of the others there). Later, the New Shinigami (who still didn't have a name, though he felt like he had at one time and that it had been extremely important for some reason) had read through the Death Note rules. They all seemed vaguely familiar. As did writing in names, which he did occasionally, simply because he was supposed to. But he'd never done this before. He hadn't been a Shinigami before. Had he been _anything_ before? It was so weird.

"It's there," he said softly to himself. "It's in there, I can feel it. I can almost remember it, it's…close…near…"

There it was again. Now _that_ was weird. That word kept popping up over and over again. It wasn't like it was an uncommon word, but the fact that his mind kept choosing that particular word was a little strange.

The New Shinigami let his mind drift over what had happened. It wasn't exactly sure how much time had actually passed. It was hard to tell in the Shinigami Realm. Certain events seemed recent, and certain ones didn't. Now, it felt like he had been here forever. But he still clearly remembered meeting some of the other Shinigami. They had all been a strange assortment of skull heads, grotesque figures, and bandages. There had been one strange shaped one—his name was something like Sidoh—who had looked vaguely familiar. Actually, Sidoh had given him a scrutinizing look as he passed by. There was something going on there, but he didn't really feel like worrying over it.

To be honest, the other Shinigami thought he was strange as well. The only few words that any of them said to him were along the lines of, "Why does that new guy look so much like a human?"

That took him by surprise. He had later asked Ryuk, "Do I honestly look human?"

Ryuk had laughed. "Well, not by human standards, probably. But to a Shinigami…here, I'll show ya'."

Ryuk had then pointed out one of the numerous puddles of moisture lying on the ground. The New Shinigami had gone over and looked in it. For some reason, he had been able to see his reflection clearly.

He now found a puddle on the ground and peered at from where he was perched on the rock.

His face and form looked human, that was true. However, there were several things that made it impossible for him to be mistaken for a human. His skin was paler than any natural human color. His left eye was a pale, faded blue color. His other eyes looked like it may have been that color once, but was now an almost transparent grey color. And that may have been because of the scar down the right half of his body. It may have been an old burn injury, and it quite literally covered the right side of his face. It started somewhere behind his hair line and traveled down his face. His jacket covered up part of it, but glimpses of it could be seen beneath his collar. Between his belt and the bottom of his jacket there was space where about two centimeters of his midriff was visible, and the scar was visible on his right hip, which was where it ended.

His hair was straight and seemed faded, like the rest of him. If he were to take off the black jacket (which he had occasionally), the jacket below was sleeveless. There was no scarring on his arm, so they looked normal, except for the fact that beneath his gloves it looked like he might have had claws instead of hands.

He looked away from his reflection and stared off in the direction of the path to the human world. That was the other thing he did; he looked down into the human world. There were several little doorways to that world scattered around the Shinigami Realm, and he'd waste time watching humans go about their lives. Sometimes he'd watch an event of some significance, sometimes not.

There were a few humans who caught his attention, for some reason. Several seemed to be police officers of some kind, from Japan. Actually, most of the humans he found interesting were in Japan. There was also a young girl, who looked around 18 or 19, with blonde hair (she seemed to suffer from some kind of emotional depression, though he wasn't sure why), as well as another blonde woman and several other members of some American secret service agency.

But there was one that really caught the Shinigami's attention. He didn't know why; it wasn't like this human was doing anything particularly interesting, though he seemed to have done something of the sort in the recent past. The human was only 17, maybe 18. For some reason, his curly hair was pure white. Humans could be strange at times. (It was also strange that he seemed to know so much about the human world. Well, all he did was watch it when he was bored. And for some reason he knew random things without anyone having to tell him. Like, for example, that chocolate was the best thing humans ever invented.)

When he checked the human world, the Shinigami usually found the white-haired human first. The human seemed to do some sort of detective work, mostly minor stuff. As of now, he was located in Japan, but he had more connections in America than anywhere else.

The Shinigami sighed and got up off the rock. This realm was so boring and depressing. Were Shinigami supposed to get depression? Was that even a thing? He wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. He was already different by Shinigami standards. He and Ryuk made quite a pair.

He yawned and stretched out his wings. Right, he had wings now. They usually stayed hidden, but when he felt like it they could sprout out of his back. They were mostly black with a mix of blue-greys and were feathered like bird wings.

His head gave a familiar throb, and he pressed a hand to it. This happened frequently, when he felt like he had to remember something that wasn't there.

However, this time something happened. There were voices, saying bits of random phrases: something about "near", "mellow", and what sounded like the English word "killer". Also, the letter "L", that was important for some reason. There was a sudden pain in his chest and flickering light like flames.

And suddenly it was over. He blinked and shook his head. What had just happened? Had he "remembered" something? But about what? He hadn't had a life before this one, before being a Shinigami. Right?

Shaking his head, he began walking to where all the other Shinigami tended to gather. This was stupid. He was a nameless Shinigami. These phrases and words were just Shinigami stuff. He'd get better after he'd been a Shinigami for a while longer.

There was something in his pocket. He suddenly realized this. It felt like a thin piece of paper, nothing important. He thought nothing of it as he reached down and pulled it out. He stopped walking to glance at it.

It was a photograph. A photograph of a human. He was young, no older than 15, with blue eyes and straightened blond hair. The photo had focused on the face. The human's hair was blond, tinged with what might have been orange, and was cut just above his shoulders. He looked familiar…actually, if the Shinigami hadn't known better, he would have said that this human almost looked like…

And with a rush it all came back. His body went rigid as the memories came flooding in. His mouth opened in a silent scream. His eyes stared unseeing at the sky as his brain tried and failed to control the amount of information flooding his head. Everything was coming back, everything he'd forgotten: L, Wammy's House, Kira, Watari, the Mafia, Lidner, Yagami, Takada, Near…oh, near, Near, it made sense now! Mihael Keehl…that was his name, Mihael Keehl. He went by Mello. He was the one going to succeed L, he was going to become Number One, he was going to beat Kira and Near…He remembered it all: L's death, leaving the orphanage, working with the Mafia, finding the Death Note and its Shinigami…oh, Sidoh, of course!...so close to finding Kira and beating Near…and then failing, an explosion, pain coursing through his whole body as half of his face and body was scarred forever, finding Lidner, almost killing Near but stopping last minute, retrieving the photograph (that's where it came from), working with but at the same time not working with Near, he and Matt tracking Amane, figuring out Near's plans from Lidner…and then making his move, kidnapping Takada, watching Matt die…and then the unmistakable feeling of having his heart jump and stop, watching the world fade, watching it go up in flames, and then nothing, absolute nothingness…

He gasped, dropped the photo, and fell to his knees. He was panting heavily. The ground was swimming. The red light of his eyes was flickering. How had this happened? _What_ had happened? He'd died, he knew that. Takada must have had part of the Notebook, despite his precautions. He'd died…but how the hell had he ended up here? Here it really was hell. A boring hell, a place that a Shinigami wouldn't consider hell, but a human, trapped as a Shinigami?

The Shinigami—no, Mello—blinking and rapidly shook his head. Why was he a Shinigami?

 _Think, you're the smartest genius besides Near, think!_

Unintentionally, his mind began to think back through reading the Death Note, reading the rules, using the Death Note just to see what it was like, just to feel the satisfaction of succeeding…

That was it. There was a rule, a minor one that seemed to have been added in at the end, like whoever had written the rules decided that it wasn't important. He himself had thought nothing of it at the time. But now he did.

 _"_ _A human who uses the Death Note cannot go to either heaven or hell."_

That was it. Mello stared at the ground in disbelief, his vision swimming. He'd used the Death Note, used it to kill people…and now he was here. It all made sense. A human who used the Death Note couldn't go to heaven or hell, but they could become something else. They could become a Shinigami, a god of death whose only purpose is to use the Death Note to kill humans. But they weren't supposed to remember, that was obvious. He wasn't supposed to have remembered being a human. But it had always been there, in the back of his head, all his memories.

 _What am I going to do? Oh God, someone tell me, what the heck am I going to do? Matt, L, someone help. Please…I've lost everyone. Everyone's dead, and I'm never going to see them again._

It hit him hard all of a sudden. It wasn't like he had subscribed to any particular religion. He didn't know if he even believed in anything like that. But now, knowing that this realm existed and that he now lived here and was stuck here, he wasn't so sure. Maybe there was such a thing as heaven, such a thing as hell, maybe L and Matt were there, but he'd never know because he was stuck here.

 _If I hadn't of used it…if I had worked with Near…no, that was never going to happen, but still, if I hadn't of used it…no, the point is, I did use it. This is the result of my decision. The question is: how do I reverse it?_

Because Mello had already decided. He was going to escape this. He didn't know how, but he was going to save himself. L's successor wasn't going to waste away eternity as a forgotten, nameless death god. Especially not when that successor was Mello.

He picked the photo off the ground and stuffed it back in his pocket. Now, he'd have to do some research and come up with a plan, but he'd do it. He had all the time in the world now. Though no chocolate. That had always helped. Oh well.

A small doubt did creep into his mind: _what if there is no way to go back? What if you're stuck like this forever?_

Mello shook his head forcibly. He'd find a way, even if he had to…

 _No,_ he thought, _no way am I asking that pipsqueak for help. I shouldn't need to, there's got to be some way for me to go back on my own. I'll figure it out. I can do it._


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Mello spent the next—week, who knew in the Shinigami realm?—intently studying the rules of the Death Note. The only time he took breaks was to write down a name in the Notebook so that he didn't die. That would defeat the whole purpose of what he was doing now. He didn't mention it to any of the other Shinigami. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to let them know that he had remembered being human. So Mello read the rules of the Notebook, over and over again. There was a large number of rules in his copy of the Notebook. Maybe it had something to do with his circumstances; humans who became Shinigami got a more in depth copy of the rules. Anyway, he was glad that it was there.

It had been a while, several human days most likely, when he found something that might help. Mello held the Death Note open on his knee and ran his finger over the writing.

 _"_ _A human who uses the Death Note cannot go to heaven or hell."_

 _"_ _This human, when he/she die, will become a permanent owner of the note."_

That hadn't been in the copy Mello had seen when he was human. This was a rule that only Shinigami could see. But they would have had no reason to see it, because the only one who'd be interested in something like this would be a Shinigami who used to be human and was trying to figure out how it had happened or who wanted to escape being a Shinigami. And a Shinigami who used to be a human should never have been able to remember life as a human.

But Mello had. And so this group of rules meant something to him. Despite everything, he felt hope rising in his chest. This could be it. He eagerly read on, hoping to find the clue he needed.

The next line shattered that slim hope. With despair, he read the next few lines.

 _"_ _After becoming a Shinigami, the human should have no memory of being human."_

 _"_ _If, by some chance, the Shinigami remembers being human, they cannot become human again or come back to life. Neither can they go to heaven or hell as a Shinigami, or even prove the existence of such things."_

 _"_ _The only way a human who has used the Death Note and died will be freed of being a Shinigami is with the help of a living human. How this can be accomplished is unknown to humans and Shinigami."_

That was it. A Shinigami couldn't go to an afterlife, become human again, or come back to life as a human. This was his next life, a never-ending life. The only way a Shinigami could be freed was with the help of a human, but no-one even knew if that was possible.

Mello slammed the Death Note shut and threw it across the ground. He threw himself back on the rock he was sitting on and closed his eyes. It seemed Shinigami couldn't cry, which felt worse than actually crying. He stared up at the sky and shook his head softly. This wasn't how he wanted it to end.

"Please…" Mello said softly, not knowing who he was even pretending to talk to. "I don't want to stay like this. I can't live like this, not with knowing what I was. It can't end like this, it can't."

His chest ached, making him want to gasp for breath. There wasn't anything he could do, he was helpless.

With the help of a living human…

Mello shot up. A living human. There was a possibility of escaping this life. A human had to help. Not that he knew many humans that were still alive and would have wanted to help him even when he was human. And now he was a death god, of all things. Who would even consider helping something like that?

Mello could think of one person.

Whether he would help or not was the question, and Mello hated having to ask him for anything, especially when he had been alive. However, Mello was at the end of his rope. There wasn't another choice: it was live the remainder of an immortal life as a Shinigami or go beg for help.

He stood. It was humiliating, but he didn't have a choice. He'd have to ask _him_ for help.

Ryuk was sitting with several other Shinigami. They were playing some game with dice and bones and something. Ryuk didn't care, really. He was bored, as always. He turned as Sidoh came up beside him.

"Ryuk," the other Shinigami said.

"Sidoh," Ryuk replied.

"Ryuk, do you know that new Shinigami?"

"Which one, there's been a lot of them lately?" Ryuk wasn't looking at Sidoh. Sidoh was an idiot and usually wasn't worth a conversation. However, when you're bored…

"The strange one. The one that looks like a human. He spends most of his time reading through his notebook or staring off into the human world."

Ryuk looked toward the main entrance to the human world a few yards away. It looked like a large pit encircled on three sides by a cave thing.

"Yeah, I do. What about him?"

"He looks familiar. Are you sure he's new?"

Ryuk looked at Sidoh sharply.

"What'd you mean?"

"Well, I feel like I've seen him before."

"Oh. No, he's definitely a new guy."

"Oh. I see."

Sidoh went back to mumbling to himself. Ryuk shrugged and turned away. Actually, he'd been thinking the same thing. Honestly, he thought the Shinigami in question looked familiar as well. Interestingly enough, he actually looked like one of the ones Light was so intent on catching. The one who ate all the chocolate. Something like that. Either way it didn't matter. He was a Shinigami now, and that was all there was too it.

And speak of the devil, here was the new guy now. He was walking with his head down, like he was trying to hide beneath his bangs, towards the group. The other Shinigami didn't pay any attention to him as he slipped around the outside of the group.

Ryuk had noticed that about him. This new guy didn't say much to anyone, and he moved around as quietly as he could. He didn't draw much attention to himself or really hang out with any of the others. Ryuk could relate to that. It didn't help the new guy's case that he looked so much like a human. Ryuk didn't even think he had a name.

The Shinigami stood a few feet away from where Ryuk sat. He was looking down, but in the direction towards the hole to the human world. He looked preoccupied; that was the problem with looking so human, everything showed on his face.

"Whatcha doing?" Ryuk asked. The Shinigami jumped and looked at Ryuk.

"Oh, didn't see you there, Ryuk," he said softly. Ryuk cocked his head.

"What's up with you?" he asked curiously. The other turned sharply. His eyes seemed suspicious.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked. Ryuk shrugged.

"Well, you've been off by yourself for some time. Now, I know you're usually off looking at the human world or something, but recently you've been sitting off in some corner reading through your Death Note, really carefully too. Also, you're a little jumpy."

The new guy shook his head as if to clear it.

"Oh, I…" he paused, as if trying to gather his thoughts. Ryuk tilted his head.

 _This is new_ , he thought. _Maybe something interesting will happen. I could use a little of that right about now._

The other Shinigami drew himself up and seemed to harden his face.

"Ryuk, I'm going to the human world."

Everyone stopped and stared at him. Ryuk laughed softly. This was great.

"Why?" one of the Shinigami seated on the ground asked. "You drop your Death Note?"

"That's strange," said another, "considering how you practically never put it down."

"I didn't drop it," the nameless Shinigami said softly.

"Huh?"

"But I'm going to," he finished.

"You mean, on purpose?" one asked. "For a specific human? Why on earth would you want to do that?"

The Shinigami turned to Ryuk. His eyes narrowed.

"I'm going to go back," he said firmly. Ryuk gave one of his cackling laughs.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, grinning wider than usual.

"You know what," the other said. "You know what I used to be and how I got here. I can only assume there's some rule against telling me, but I don't care. I'm going to fix this, and I'm going to the human world to do it. There's no rule against it, right?"

"Not that I can think of," Ryuk said. "Not that it's going to make you very likeable around here."

"If I do what I plan to I'll never have to set a foot in this hell ever again."

Ryuk was a little surprised by that. Sure, he knew the new guy used to be human. There were a lot of those roaming parts of the Shinigami realm now, thanks to Light, but as far as he knew none had actually remembered using the Death Note as a human.

The other Shinigami sitting around them had evidently figured out what was going on, and now all of them had perked up and were listening.

"Wait, you're one of _those_ guys, huh?" one said. "How the hell do you plan on getting back? You can't come back to life, and you can't just become human again. It's not that simple. It's in the rules."

"I know it is!" the nameless Shinigami snapped. He had whirled to face the others. "I read the rules, okay? I know what I'm doing, and I'm going!"

Before anyone could say anything, he was running towards the human world. Upon reaching the edge of the cliff, he unfurled his black wings and leapt off into the void. Glowing light encircled him as he fell.

 _I really wish I knew what I was doing_ , he thought as he dropped out into the evening sky of the human world. _I just hope this works._

Ryuk watched as the Shinigami who had once been human leapt out and disappeared into the human world. The other Shinigami seemed shocked for a minute. Then, with a few comments along the lines of, "Well, there goes the new guy," and, "Wonder how this one'll end up," they went back to their games. However, Ryuk could hear them discussing the incident in a very cool, uninterested manner.

Ryuk laughed to himself, stood, and walked away.

 _Humans are so interesting._


	4. Chapter 4

**_The Human World_**

4.

The day started out normally enough, much like every other day as the new L. Near blinked open his eyes. He was lying on the floor, curled up inside a blanket. He'd always found the floor nicer than a bed. Didn't know why. He pushed himself into a kneeling position and blinked for a minute or two. Then he yawned and rubbed a hand over his face, ruffling his already curly-mess of hair. Near ran his hand through it a couple of times and called that good as far as doing his hair went. He then stood and stretched.

He didn't have much of a morning routine. Wake up, brush teeth, maybe eat something, and that was about it. He didn't ever bother changing. He always wore the same thing anyway.

The room where he slept was a small, dark room that was set in the corner of the building. Near pushed open the door into the empty hallway and walked down to the bathroom. He spent about two minutes in there and made his way to his main "base of operations".

He still spent most of his time in the same apartment building that the SPK had set up in New York. However, as of now he was in the building they owned in Japan. Recently, the 18-year-old "L" had solved several cases with the help of the old Kira Task Force, headed by Eriko Aizawa. They were about the only people on the Japanese Police Force that Near actually trusted. He didn't have a very high opinion of those who had surrendered so easily to Kira, which was part of the reason he had kept this base of operations set up in Japan. He didn't have many kind words for the current United States president.

Near opened the door and walked into the room. The walls were covered with T.V. and computer monitors. A mic system was set up in the middle of the room, as well as several Lego structures and action figures.

Rester was in the corner of the room on the computer when Near came in.

"Good morning, Near…I mean, L," he said, turning to the small figure. Near nodded to him.

"Commander Rester." Near sat down in the middle of the room, next to the mic and the Legos. He set the plastic toy robot he had been carrying under one arm next to one of the Lego buildings and began playing around with the Legos. "Anything new to report?"

"No, nothing as of yet," Rester replied, turning back to his screen. "Not that I'd expect anything so soon after your previous success."

"That was nothing," Near said simply. "Breaking up illegal drug dealers is nothing after the Kira case. Honestly, it's been rather boring after Light Yagami—Kira died."

"Are you saying you miss him?" Rester asked, turning around in his chair.

"No, not like that," Near said. "Light Yagami was a murderer and had to be stopped. Not denying that I had personal interests in stopping him, but it all came down to defeating him, if only for pride. But nothing interesting has happened in the whole year after his defeat. It's about time something happened."

Rester gave a sort of snorting sound, like laughter.

"Say what you like, Near," he said, turning back to the computer screen, "but I, for one, am glad that the whole Kira thing is over. And I rather have nothing to do with Death Notes or Shinigami or anything else like that again. It was good we destroyed those things when we did."

Near grinned and shot Rester a look out of the corner of his eye.

"Thought you might say something like that," he said, playing with a strand of his fluffy white hair. "I'd like to say thank you, Rester, for sticking around to assist me in work. Also for being willing to work in Japan as often as you do."

"After all we've been through, it's the least I can do," Rester said. "You saved our lives in that warehouse a year ago, Near. We owe you something for getting rid of Kira as well."

Near was silent as he quietly fit Legos together with one hand and curled strands of hair between his fingers with the other hand. Rester looked at the small teenager from out of the corner of his eye. He was sitting in his usual huddled position on the floor, one knee drawn up for his head to rest on, and the other leg tucked under him. Rester smiled, shook his head in disbelief, and went back to his computer. The crime reports he received from the American government were out, as well as several reports specifically for L and his partners from Japan and other countries, and Rester had to look into solving them. To see if L needed to get involved or not, that sort of thing.

Anthony Rester had been with Near since the SPK had been formed by America around the year 2012. He was a middle-aged man with blond hair smoothed back on his head in a very natural-looking way. He dressed in a simple white button-up shirt, a tie, and black pants and always looked very official, a sharp contrast to Near's usual appearance.

Rester wasn't the only one from the SPK that still came to work at Near's hideout, whether in Japan or America. Stephen Gevanni, the one that had made the fake Death Note which ultimately solved the Kira case, was good for tailing suspects and blending in. He was always willing to be called in and would often come whenever he could to help Rester when the commander was on site. Gevanni, as well as Aizawa and his task force, was currently wrapping up the loose ends of the recent case Near had solved. One other, Halle Lidner, would come around whenever she had time or nothing else to do. Despite the fact that she had been a sort of double agent working with Mello half the time during the case, Near still trusted her and appreciated her help. At the time, she was in America doing work for the FBI, as she was a former member.

Near still kept close contact with Eriko Aizawa, Touta Matsuda, Kanzo Mogi, and Hideki Ide from the Japanese police force, as well as anyone they decided to admit into their group as trustworthy. The former Kira task force was always willing to assist the new L in any way possible. Near also had a few Japanese and Americans who would come in from time to time and work with him and, though he didn't have complete faith in them as with the others, he had found most to be relatively trustworthy.

All things considered, things were going pretty well for the new L and his team.

 _However_ , Near thought as he clicked two Lego blocks together and narrowed his eyes, _something has to happen; it's been a little over a year since the incident at the Yellow Box. Even if it's a small something, something's bound to happen soon._

It was evening before the something happened, before the day stopped being like a normal day. The day had been pretty uneventful. Near had gone through several potential cases, from murders to theft, but hadn't really seen anything that particularly sparked his interest. The one he had found the most interesting had been the murder of some American, but the name had seemed familiar. It had seemed an insignificant thing. However, Near thought there was probably more to it than surface level. He had often found it to be a good idea to follow up on this intuitions.

Anyway, he'd look into it later. Right now, he felt like getting some fresh air. He made his way to one of the balconies of the large building. It looked like any normal office building from the outside. Inside was a collection of living spaces and technical rooms.

Near leaned against the railing, staring out over the city as the sun set in the distance. The world was bathed in oranges and purples, as well as blacks and greys. A warm breeze ruffled Near's hair and clothes. He closed his eyes and breathed in. It was peaceful out here, and he could stand out here and think. He'd found that going outside on the roof or one of these balconies helped his reasoning at times. It could also trigger certain memories as well: his time at the orphanage, time spent sitting inside playing with puzzles while Mello and the others ran and played outside, the rare times he'd see L. Near was always the smartest child at the orphanage, next to Mello. Though Mello had seemed to find himself inferior, Near had never seen him as anything other than an equal. He genuinely liked Mello and even went as far as to consider the older boy his only friend.

The day that L died was imprinted in his memory as well. Near had learned long ago to hide his emotions from others, and he managed to do so on that day too. Everything always showed on Mello's face, and that day was no exception. The moment Roger suggested that Near and Mello work together on the Kira case, Mello's face showed his disgust and fear at the idea. That was the same day Mello left the orphanage at age 14, leaving Near as L's chief successor.

The following years saw the founding of the SPK, the introduction of the new L, and the start of the race between Near and Mello to end the Kira case. Mello had actually come close to shooting him at one point in time, but that had been avoided. The fact was, no matter what Mello had done, Near still considered him a friend and didn't want to have Mello end up dead. Ultimately, it was Near who unmasked and defeated Kira, actually Light Yagami. However, as Near himself admitted, it was Mello who had led to Kira's defeat through his last desperate action. And it really had been his last. Mello was killed by the Death Note, and the vehicle and building he had been in had gone up in flames.

And Near was left alone. And though the events were over a year ago, L's and Mello's deaths still haunted him.

Near shook his head and turned his gaze up to the sky. Better to think about the present now. There was nothing he could do to save the ones who were already gone.

The first stars were becoming visible in the sky. Near focused his dark eyes on them.

And it was in doing so that his eyes caught movement across the street. He turned his head and focused. There was something falling—no, floating—towards the ground, and it looked like it would land in the patch of grass outside the building Near was on. As he watched it, his eyes widened.

 _No, it couldn't be. There's no way, not at this time, almost exactly a year after, there's no way._

He turned and ran for the stairs, because that thing outside looked all too familiar to him.

Near pushed open the front door and stood out on the grass. The object on the ground at his feet was exactly what he thought it was. His hands started trembling.

"How?" was all he could get out in a strangled whisper.

He leaned down and picked up the thing with both hands. It was a notebook with a beaten black cover and the title printed in strange, white letters across the top:

DEATH NOTE.

"What the heck is this doing here?" he whispered. He quickly flipped through the pages. There were three or four pages in the front filled out, but other than that the book was empty. This definitely wasn't one of the books he had seen before.

 _So those are definitely burned and gone forever._

Suddenly, he remembered one of the rules he'd read in the book, about the conditions of finding the note. And about what was supposed to show up after.

Near's head shot up. In the dusk, in front of him, stood a human figure. His faded blond hair blew softly as if in the wind. The black jacket hung loosely on his trim frame. The scarred face was all too familiar to Near.

"Mello!" Near breathed and, for once, was at a loss for words. Mello gave a sad half smile.

"Hey, Near. Did you miss me?"


	5. Chapter 5

5.

Near shook his head in disbelief.

"How…I…why…uh, what?" he tried to form some question and found that he couldn't. Mello grinned.

"Looks like I've finally made you speechless," he said. "That's an accomplishment."

Near blinked, and then looked down at the notebook in his hands. A Death Note, and a Death Note always had a Shinigami attached. People couldn't come back to life, he knew that; there was even a rule about it in the Death Note. So why was Mello here? Unless…a Death Note always had a Shinigami…

"Mello, you're a…" Near stopped. He couldn't quite bring himself to say what he was thinking, it was too insane.

 _Of course, so is the very idea of a Death Note._

"Okay, Mello, I think I sort of understand, but explain," Near said. He'd finally gotten his shock under control, and his face was set like it normally was. Mello looked at him curiously and sighed.

"Okay, I can try," he began. "So, I'm a Shinigami now. And that's every bit as weird as it sounds. Basically, it comes down to that thing."

He pointed to the Death Note in Near's hands.

"There's a rule about it in there, but none of us would have thought anything of it. It doesn't sound like the kind of thing that might actually be true. 'A human who uses the Death Note cannot get into neither heaven nor hell.' Why would I notice that, or you, or Kira for that matter? But it's true.

"I used the Death Note, Near. Not on a lot of people, just a few other Mafia members. Otherwise, I didn't have to bother myself with writing in names. Anyone could do that. But I tried it a few times…and then I found out what that rule meant. The ones of us who use the Death Note, when we die, we wake up in the Shinigami Realm with no knowledge of ever being human. That's what happened to me."

Mello looked off to the side and at the ground. Near cocked his head and tried to process what he'd just heard.

"Why do you look human then?" he asked. Mello looked up in surprise.

"I'm a dead person who just came back to give you a murder notebook and just told you I was a Shinigami, and _that's_ what you're asking about? Okay then. Honestly, I have no idea why I look so much like a human. Though I don't think you'd find many humans who look exactly like this."

Near had to agree with him. Mello was strangely pale, and everything about him—from his eyes to his hair—looked strangely faded, though in a certain light his eyes seemed to glow red. Under his gloves, his fingers looked a little more like claws than normal hands. There was something different about the look in his eyes too, but Near couldn't put it into words.

Near had a few more important questions bothering him, but, frankly, he was a little scared to ask. That had never stopped him before, so he decided not to let it stop him now.

"So, are you even alive?" he asked. "Like, in this world? As a Shinigami, can you even be here?"

Mello shrugged.

"Well, no one really stopped me when I came down here. And I'm allowed to stay down here as long as my Death Note's here. Which it is. And I don't know if you can qualify a Shinigami as being alive, but yeah, I can exist in this world. This is my actual body, or true form, or whatever you want to call it."

"Huh." Near looked down at the book he still held in both hands. There was one last thing he had to ask, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

 _Might as well ask and get it over with_ , he told himself and looked back up at Mello.

"So, you're in the human world now. And I'm guessing you came down here for a purpose? And so, I was wondering what that purpose was?" Near paused, took a breath, and plunged on. "Are you…are you here to kill me?"

Mello looked surprised.

"Why would I want to kill you?" he asked. He seemed genuinely confused, which sort took Near by surprise.

"I don't know. Revenge or something like that? I mean, I'm the new L now, and we both know that everything you did was so that you could fill that position. And I eventually ended up defeating you in the Kira case, and you…well, ended up dead. So I thought that maybe, as a Shinigami, you'd have the power to kill whoever you wanted. As in those you fought against as a human."

Mello shook his head.

"No, I didn't come here to kill you. Honestly, never thought of it," he said, and then seemed to grow thoughtful. "I could though, couldn't I? But that's not why I'm here."

Something in the way he said it caught Near's attention.

"And why are you here?" he asked, narrowing his dark eyes. Mello looked at the ground, and Near noticed that his hands, and whole frame for that matter, were trembling. Mello bit his bottom lip, as if steeling himself, and spoke.

"I shouldn't have used that notebook. The first time, as a human. That's how this all started. When I woke in the Shinigami realm, I didn't remember anything about being human. But for some reason, I still had that photograph that you returned to me. And when I found that and really looked at it, everything came back. All the memories of Wammy's House, L, the Kira case, and everything that went with it. And once I knew that I'd been human, I realized what was wrong with me."

Mello looked up suddenly. Near was shocked by the helpless, pleading look in his eyes. This wasn't the Mello he had known from a year ago.

"Near, I don't want to be a Shinigami," Mello said softly, but the desperate sound in his voice was clear. "By using the Death Note, I trapped myself out of whatever afterlife there is. I'm stuck as an immortal god of death, sitting up in my world and doing nothing. It wouldn't be as bad if I didn't remember, but I do. I remember being human and knowing other humans and having friends—even if I didn't exactly have a whole lot of them.

"I can't stay this way. If I do, one day I just might not write any names in my notebook and die. That's one of the few ways a Shinigami can die; if we don't write down names, we don't get any life-force and after a while we die. I don't want to go that way, Near, I'm not going to. I'm going to find a way to reverse what I did to myself by using that notebook. I don't think I can ever become human again, but maybe I can get myself out of the Shinigami Realm."

"And go where?" Near asked. "If you can't be human, where are you planning on going?"

"Whatever afterlife there is for someone like me, I suppose," Mello answered. Near cocked his head.

"You believe that there's some sort of afterlife out there?"

Mello paused and thought for a minute. Finally, he responded, "I didn't. Not when I was alive. But…I don't know, Near, after seeing the Shinigami Realm and knowing that a human could end up there, then…there's got to be another place for everyone else. Everyone like L and Matt. Where are they? So yeah, I guess I do believe in an afterlife."

Near arched his eyebrows.

"So you want to stop being a Shinigami and try to get yourself into some hypothetical afterlife that you don't even know exists?"

"You don't know what it's like!"

Mello's voice startled him with its intensity. The next second it sounded close to breaking.

"You don't what it's like, Near," he whispered hoarsely. "Try to understand. It's like…like something took me and stuffed me into something else, something that isn't me. Nothing feels right. It's so lonely up there, Near. So lonely, you've got no idea. Try to understand. I don't care what happens to me, I don't even care if I die trying. Until that happens, I'm going to find some way to escape this."

Near was silent. He hadn't expected this sort of thing from Mello, dead or not. Mello had always been the more emotional one, but it was still completely unexpected for him to be like this.

 _Lonely, huh?_ Near thought wryly. _I can relate to that feeling._

He sighed.

"Mello, I understand. Honestly, I do," he assured. He spread his arms out in a question. "But think it through, logically. How are you planning to get out of this? What _can_ you do? I don't know how these Death Note, Shinigami rules work. Is there even anything you can do?"

Mello looked at Near out of the corner of his eye and grinned humorlessly.

"I looked into it. This may come as a surprise to you, but I do actually think things through."

Near gave him a look, and Mello revised his statement with a slight exasperated sigh.

"Okay, most things. Now, at least. Anyway, when I remembered everything, I went to the Death Note for answers. For some reason, mine has more rules in the front than the first one I got, back when Yagami gave it to me. You saw the original Death Note, you'll see what I mean."

Mello gestured to the notebook. Near complied and flipped through the opening pages. Mello was right; there were several all black pages with white lettering on them in the front of the Note, before the lined notebook pages. This was definitely different than the one Near had stolen from Mikami and Light a year ago.

 _Maybe it has something to do with being a human and then receiving a notebook as a Shinigami_ , he thought.

Mello continued. "So I spent…I don't know how many days, actually…looking through the rules and trying to find something about the Heaven and Hell rule and any way of getting around it. And I found this."

He went forward the few steps needed to reach Near and flipped to a page near the beginning of the book. Mello ran a finger under the rules he was talking about.

"These rules," he said, and continued to explain as Near ran his eyes over the text. "The first one is the Heaven and Hell rule, and the next says that the human in question—now a Shinigami—shouldn't retain any memories of being human. However, if they do, they can never return to being human or come back to life."

"Then how were you go…" Near began, but Mello cut him off impatiently.

"I'm getting there, hold on. Anyway, it's the next rule that caused me to come down here. It states that ' _The only way a human who has used the Death Note and died will be freed of being a Shinigami is with the help of a living human. How this can be accomplished is unknown to humans and Shinigami'_."

Mello stopped and looked at Near, almost expectantly.

"I know it's not much to go on, but it's all I got," he said softly. Near closed his eyes for a moment, processing the information and turning pieces of it over in his mind, and then said, "So you're here to find a human to help with that. Who?"

Mello arched his eyebrows.

"I'd have thought _you_ , of all people, would have figured that out by now. I mean, you're the genius."

He stopped, let out a breath, and said, "Look, I'm here because of you, Near. You're about the only one I trust in this whole world of humans, and you're the only one I can think of that would help me. I know you probably hate me, and honestly I'm not so sure how I feel about you. You know it's probably killing me to have to ask you for help, but I'm doing it. I'm desperate enough to ask you for help, Near. Pl…please, you…you're the only one I can trust with this."

Near was silent, and Mello seemed to take this as some sign of refusal. His eyes widened with desperation, and his voice cracked.

"Please, Near! You're all I've got. If you don't help, I…I don't know what I'll do. So please…"

He stopped and looked pleadingly at Near. Near still remained motionless. Honestly, this was freaking him out even more than Mello's initial appearance. Mello had always been very self-confident and rather prideful. For him to be pleading for help like this was the last thing Near would have expected him to do.

 _It must be pretty horrible to be a Shinigami if he's this desperate to find a way out. Desperate enough to ask me, anyways,_ Near thought. _No, that's not it. At least, not entirely. The worst part is to be the sort of thing a human would call a monster, and then remember that you yourself used to be human. That's the problem here._

"You…" he said softly. Mello looked up nervously. Near was looking at the ground, his hair shading his eyes.

"You…honestly trust me enough to do this?" Near said. "Me? L's successor?"

"That's exactly why I trust you," Mello replied quietly. "If anyone can figure this out, the successor of the greatest detective in the world should be able to."

Near smiled softly.

"Well, if that's how you feel…"

He looked up and flashed Mello one of his child-like half-grins.

"Then let's get started!"

Mello looked taken aback.

"Really?" he asked. "You…You'll just agree to it that easily?"

"Sure," Near shrugged. "As long as you promise you're not here to secretly kill me or something?"

Mello rolled his eyes.

"As I said before, why the heck would I want to kill you? That wouldn't help me at all."

Near spread his arms plaintively.

"Well, you never know," he said. "I wasn't sure what to think, with you criminal types."

Mello raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"Oh, I'm a criminal now, huh?"

"Last I checked, kidnapping is a crime and you seem surprisingly good at it."

Mello held up his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"Okay, fair point."

Near smiled and handed the Death Note back to Mello. To his surprise, Mello actually backed away from it.

"Actually," he said, his smile disappearing. "I'd rather you hold on to that for the time being. There's a couple more things I should tell you."

Near held up his hand.

"That's fine, but I'd rather do that inside," he said. "It's dark, and I don't go out much anyway. That's okay with you, right?"

"Doesn't really matter one way or another with me," Mello said. "Thought I guess I would rather have my Death Note inside instead of out in the open."

"Good," Near said, and turned towards the door. "Follow me. Oh! That reminds me…"

He suddenly turned back to Mello. Mello cocked his head.

"What?"

"I've got something for you. Come on," Near said, and ran inside. Mello snorted and then smiled. He spread his wings and gently passed through the wall of the building after Near.

 _Well, here goes nothing,_ he thought hopefully. A tremendous amount of relief was flooding through him. _Hope this works._


	6. Chapter 6

6.

"Guess Rester went to his room," Near said offhandedly as he slipped around the edge of the doorway. Mello followed him, looking around at the walls and floors.

"So you've still got your whole gang together?" Mello asked, turning around to look at the television and computer screens that circled the room. The only light in the whole room was emitting from them, yet none of them were showing any images. The screens were all a blank white picture.

"If you're talking about the old SPK team, then yes," Near answered, his voice muffled. He was rummaging around in the far corner of the room and was hidden by the shadows. From what Mello could hear, it sounded like he was digging through a drawer of some kind, though he couldn't see exactly what it was.

"I'd have thought," Near continued, "that you'd have already known that. Weren't you watching us up in the Shinigami Realm or something?"

"Well, sort of, but I didn't know who you all were at the time. And it's not like I could figure out that all of you were still in the same building."

"We're not half the time. Rester stays and helps me out here more than anyone else does. Gevanni's got other jobs to do, but he comes here when he's got time, which has been pretty often lately. He's somewhere in Japan right now, actually."

Mello smiled slightly.

"You know, if your first reaction was to think that I was here to kill you, why are you telling me about the location and names of all your friends? Doesn't that seem a little careless of you, Near?"

"Boy, you haven't changed at all, have you, Mello?"

Mello couldn't see Near's face, but he was pretty sure he was smirking. Before Mello could say anything defensive, Near went on.

"Shinigami can see the names and remaining lifespans of humans. Therefore, it doesn't matter if you know the names of my team, you could figure them out easily enough. And why should it matter to you, if that's your goal, where they are or what they're doing? You can easily just write down their names and kill them anyway.

"But I'd assume that, since you haven't killed me yet, that killing them isn't your goal. Plus—though this shouldn't matter to you anyway—I've got the Death Note at the moment. Also, I can't see you wanting to kill your old friend Lidner if you didn't do it earlier."

"Hal still works for you?" Mello asked. He was a bit shocked to hear that. He knew that Near had probably figured out that Lidner had been giving information to Mello on the Kira case. Actually, Mello had acted as if Near knew the whole time. Yet it surprised him to hear that Near would keep Lidner as part of L's select group.

"Yeah, though she's hardly here anymore," Near replied. "I think she's in America right now. She should been coming here in a few days though, I think."

Mello grunted in acknowledgement and turned around to examine the room more closely. It was very similar—almost identical in fact—to the command room Near had at his base in New York. Mello had seen it once when he had forced his way in that one time. The floor was mostly bare and white-tiled. Along the walls were set up keyboards and parts of mic systems on top of shelf-like table-tops. The corners of the room were shrouded in shadows. Most of the light from the monitors shown onto the floor in the center of the room. The center of the room was dominated by a large Lego structure, several plastic action figures, and what might have been a rubber duck. Mello wasn't exactly sure why that was there, but this was Near after all.

Mello smiled and shook his head. A whole year and Near hadn't changed a bit. He stilled looked anywhere between the ages of 9 to 17. His eyes were the same large, almost black ones as before, and his hair was still a curly mess of white. Near even dressed the same; baggy white shirt and pants that looked like they might be pajamas, and white socks with no shoes.

 _And I'm a freaking Shinigami_ , Mello thought wryly. _But I still dress the same._

"Oh, found it!"

Near's shout startled Mello out of his thoughts. Near backed out of the corner and stood, brushing himself off.

"Here," he said to Mello, and tossed something to him. Mello caught the object with both hands and looked at.

"Oh no, you didn't!" he gasped, and looked up at Near. "I can't believe you…"

Near allowed himself a smug smile.

"Honestly, you kind of just left it lying around. I'm not going to throw it out. That stuff is good."

"You're telling me?" Mello managed to say as he jumped on top of one of the counters and sat there. He had already ripped open the wrapper of the chocolate bar Near had thrown him and bit off a corner of it. His eyes closed slightly and he sighed.

"Oh gosh, you have no idea how much I've missed this," he said, leaning back against the wall. Near made his way to his spot at the center of the room and sat down amidst his Legos. He slid the Death Note in front of him and stared at it. As he contemplated it, he drew one knee up to his face and rested his cheek on it. Mello leaned forward a little to watch Near.

"It's just a normal Death Note," Mello said. Near glanced at him.

"Yes, but for some reason," he replied, "You don't want it back. Why's that?"

"Well, I'm only allowed to be down here if a human has my note," Mello explained. Now that the whole seeing-Near-again-for-the-first-time-but-as-a-Shinigami- who-needs-you're-help thing was over, his frame was much more relaxed and his face seemed more like the old Mello that Near knew. "But I could take it back, as long as you still remain the owner."

"So, do you want it back?" Near asked. Mello shrugged.

"It doesn't really matter to me right now. I don't need it for anything. I honestly just wanted to make sure you knew all the rules and stuff about it. Basically, don't use it or give up ownership of it. Do that and you'll forget about it."

"Yeah, I knew that," Near said, "but why don't use it?"

"Do you honestly want to end up like me?" Mello's voice was light when he said it, but Near could see the seriousness in Mello's eyes.

"Well, you should probably hang onto this for now, Mello," Near said and slid the Death Note in Mello's direction. Mello put the chocolate between his teeth and jumped off the counter to retrieve it. Near went on and said, "It's probably best if that thing isn't left lying out when Rester or Gevanni comes around."

"Yeah, let's avoid that," Mello agreed. "But don't you think they should know I'm here? I mean, if you want to talk to me, they'll just see you talking to yourself. That could look a little weird," he said, then revised. "Well, weirder than you usually are, anyways."

"Thanks," Near said with a hint of sarcasm. "But yeah, I was thinking the same thing. They'll need to know. There's the slight possibility one of them might be able to help with your…ah, problem."

"You honestly think that one of them could help?" Mello asked skeptically. Near smiled slightly.

"I did say slight possibility, right? Oh, darn it," Near muttered, pushing himself up off the ground.

"What?"

"I was going to look into this case that Rester came across," Near said, slipping into one of the swivel chairs in front of a computer monitor. He started typing on the keyboard, his eyes scanning the now text-filled screen. Mello came and hovered over Near's shoulder.

"What was it?" he asked. Near's eyes didn't leave the screen as he replied, "Some American—I can't remember the name right now—was murdered in New York a few days ago. L always gets a bunch of stuff like that. Just routine police reports. But this one seemed different. Now, if I can just remember the name…ha, got it!"

Mello leaned his head over Near's shoulder to read the name Near was pointing to.

"'Andrew Skyar'," he read, and looked at Near. "That familiar to you?"

"Yes, but I can't exactly remember why," Near said. He leaned back in his chair and drew up one knee. His brow furrowed. "Why is that name important? Where have I seen it before? I can't remember…"

"Yeah, I can relate to that," Mello replied dryly. He leaned back as Near turned the chair around and slipped out of it. "Near? Where're you going?"

"I'm not going to do much of anything productive at the moment," Near said. "Plus, Rester and everyone else is off right now, so I might as well be too."

He flicked a switch near the door. Mello watched as the screens in the room powered down. He turned around and realized that Near was halfway down the hall by now. Mello quickly caught up with him.

"Uh, okay. So, where are you going?" Mello asked again. Near opened a door farther down the hall.

"To bed. Do Shinigami do those sorts of things? Like sleep?"

"Uh…" Mello cocked his head up. "We don't have to sleep, but I suppose we can. You just wouldn't want to get to lazy, 'cause then you'd end up not writing any names and you'd die."

"Hmm."

Mello slipped up behind Near as the young boy stepped into the dark room.

"Why do you ask?" he asked.

"Just wondering. I thought it'd be a good idea to learn about Shinigami. Considering that they apparently can't leave us alone," Near said. Mello couldn't tell if Near was joking or not, so he didn't ask any follow-ups.

"You're allowed to answer my questions, right, Mello?" Near asked as he rummaged around in a corner. Mello was busy looking around what there was of the small, dark room.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, most of them. Basically, I can't tell you anyone's name or lifespan that I see, and I can't kill anyone for you if it will lengthen your lifespan intentionally. If that happens I die."

"Oh, that's good to know," Near said. "How to kill a Shinigami."

"Yeah, don't push your luck, pipsqueak," Mello growled. "You're not killing me like that."

"Me kill you?" Near asked, turning around and looking up at Mello from the ground. "Why would I want to kill you? That makes less sense than you wanting to kill me.

"So," Near continued, turning back to whatever he was doing on the floor, "if you can see the name and lifespans of humans, you can see mine, right?"

Mello shrugged and went back to surveying the room while casually taking bites from a bar of chocolate.

"Yeah, I can see yours," he answered. "But I'm used to seeing it, so I don't really notice unless I try to. It's like background stuff.

"But, like I said, I can't tell you anyone else's name or lifespan. And I can't tell you your own lifespan, Near…or rather, Nate River."

"It'd be better if you didn't use that name," Near replied. "It's not exactly common knowledge. Kira almost killed me once, you know."

"Yeah, Kira killed me too," Mello said. "Seriously, what are you doing?"

"Nothing important, why?" Near's voice was muffled, and Mello realized that Near had his head under a blanket on the floor. Near pulled his head out and looked at Mello. Mello arched his eyebrows.

"You sleep there?" he asked incredulously. Near cocked his head.

"Yes, why?" Near seemed genuinely confused. Mello shook his head in disbelief.

"Nothing, never mind."

There was an old armchair in the corner of the room, so Mello hopped up and sat on the chair back. Near sat on the bare floor amid the blankets, drew up his knee, and sat staring into the darkness.

"If you don't mind," he said to Mello, "I would appreciate it if you could be quiet for a while."

"Sure, don't mind me," Mello replied, and proceeded to eat what was left of his chocolate. Near stayed where he was, staring straight ahead. His eyes went glassy.

Mello looked around the small room while absent-mindedly licking his fingers. It was a very small room, a closet really. There was a pile of blankets in the side of the room where Near was sitting. The other side of the room had a laptop and old computer monitor set up on the floor. Next to it was a puzzle, but it was too dark to see what it was a picture of. The chair Mello was sitting on was directly across these. Other than these few things, the room was completely bare.

Well, that makes it simple, Mello thought. He slid down so that he was sitting in the chair instead of on top of it, threw his legs up on one of the chair arms, and leaned his head back.

He hadn't mentioned this to Near, but that American man had looked familiar to Mello as well. Mello let his mind begin to wander through all of his human memories. Where would he have met an American? Most likely during those years he'd spent working with the Mafia. Or more specifically, having the Mafia work for him. They were all fairly easy to manipulate. But had that man—Anthony Skyar—been there?

It was possible Mello hadn't personally worked with Skyar, but that the name itself was familiar. Either way…

"Hey, Near—" Mello turned his head and stopped, because Near obviously asleep. He was curled up on his side, with the blanket over him.

Mello smiled slightly and a little disbelievingly. The new L, the world's greatest detective, was a small teenaged kid in his pajamas who spent most of his time playing with toys.

Humans place their trust in the strangest places, Mello thought. And the sad thing is, Near's the only one in this world who could fill L's place. He's the one who stopped Kira, of all people. It's pretty amusing, actually.

Mello looked up at the dark ceiling and sighed. How was this going to work? Near was fine with working with Mello, but there was still a problem. How did a human even help a Shinigami get into an afterlife? 'Cause that's what it came down to. If a human couldn't come back to life and a Shinigami couldn't become a human, then there was only one way a Shinigami could escape their fate; die and go to a human afterlife. Somehow, Near and Mello were supposed to figure that out.

We'll just have to see how it goes, Mello thought and decided to let the matter rest for now, mostly to avoid the uncomfortable idea that his main goal was going to end with him dying. Again.

He lay there in silence for a while before remembering why he'd always hated the silent part of the night. Mello hated being alone, and that's what night was; lonely. And as a Shinigami, he understood that word all too well. His eyes blinked down slowly. If he'd still been human, he would have assumed he was tired.

Oh, might as well, he thought. He closed his eyes and drifted off.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

"Near. Hey, Near."

It was sometime in the morning and Near was still asleep. Which would have been fine, except Mello wanted him awake. There were too many things to figure out about practically everything, and Mello needed Near to figure those things out. But the brat wouldn't wake up. Mello grabbed Near's shoulder and gently shook him.

"Near, would you wake up? Come on, Near…"

Near's fist collided with Mello's jaw, knocking the Shinigami backwards. Mello ended up sitting awkwardly on the ground next to Near, rubbing his jaw with a little bit of shock.

"Who the heck…?" Near muttered groggily, sitting up and blinking heavily. A blanket hung loosely off his shoulders, and his white hair stuck out in several different directions. He looked blearily at Mello, and recognition suddenly dawned on him.

"Oh, right, you. Mello," Near mumbled, and yawned. He rubbed his eyes and looked at Mello more closely. "What's wrong with you?"

Mello rubbed the side of his face ruefully. "Well, I was _trying_ to wake you up, and you hit me. And how are you able to hit so hard?"

Near shrugged. Now that he seemed more awake, his voice had slipped back into its normal, soft monotone.

"Sorry," he said, sounding anything but sorry. "But if you're a Shinigami, shouldn't you be able to avoid getting hit by a human or anything like that? When several of the others tried to shoot Ryuk, the bullets just went through him. And Light did too, when he tried to stop Ryuk from writing down Light's name."

Mello stood and brushed himself off.

"Yeah, we can't be killed, so human weapons will just pass through us. And we can choose to pass through walls, floors, or humans if we choose to. But I didn't have time to think about it just then."

"Huh." Near stood and flattened his hair down as much as he could before heading for the door. "Follow me. I've got some calls to make."

"Like who?"

"Lidner, Gevanni, and the old Kira Task Force in Japan."

"Why do you need to call them?"

Near stopped and turned to Mello, who had followed Near down the hall. Near smiled humorlessly.

"Because," he said, "there's another Death Note here, and I think that they should probably know about it. And about you, for that matter. That's fine with you, right?"

"I told you last night," Mello said, following as Near started walking again, "do whatever you want with that. As long as you still help me, I don't really care what you do when it comes to them."

"Glad to hear you say that."

Rester was entering the control room when Near and Mello walked in. Near nodded at him and took his seat on the floor. Mello went and sat up on one of the counters as he had the day before.

"Rester," Near said in his monotone voice, without looking at the man. "Is Gevanni supposed to be here today?"

Rester gave Near a quizzing look.

"Funny you should ask about that, Near," he said. "Gevanni called last night and said he had something he needed to tell you. He insisted it be in person. He also mentioned that he called Lidner and is having her come up here as well."

"Looks like you're getting the whole gang back, Near," Mello joked, smirking at Near. The small teenager gave Mello a look from underneath his mess of curls. Mello grinned. Near couldn't answer Mello unless he wanted to explain everything right now to Rester; otherwise it'd look like Near was talking to himself. Mello assumed Near would wait until Gevanni and Lidner arrived to explain things, and Near proved him right by ignoring Mello completely, with the exception of the irritated glance.

"So he didn't mention anything at all about what he had to tell me?" Near clarified with Rester, actually looking at him this time. Rester shook his head.

"Nothing, except that it was important. Gevanni did seem a little shaken up, though."

"I'd assume that, especially if he called Lidner and is having her come out here," Near replied. He glanced back at Mello.

 _Did he have anything to do with this? It's very unlikely, but he could be plotting something. I wouldn't put it past him. Was I the first human he's had contact with since coming down here? Or did he speak to someone else?_

Mello saw the glance Near had shot at him and held up his hands.

"Hey, I actually had nothing to do with this," he protested. "You're the first one I had contact with. Whatever's wrong with Gevanni, it wasn't me."

 _That's nice, coming from him_ , Near thought rather sarcastically, _but…he knows I can't talk to him right now._

Near shot Mello another glance that clearly carried an unspoken, _Shut up._

Mello could read that one pretty well too.

"Don't look like that, I'm just trying to help. It'd be nice if you'd show me where the chocolate is, though," Mello muttered.

Near decided to ignore the Shinigami and went back to playing with a different toy he had brought in; a small electric train. He carried on his conversation with Rester.

"Rester, please check our connection with Aizawa and the others," Near ordered. "I'll need to speak with them later."

"Alright, L," Rester replied with some confusion. He'd learned it was best not to question Near, as the young "L" usually had a reason for everything he did. Rester set about working on the system to make sure they could get a clear connection when Near needed to make contact.

"Also, Rester," Near said after a minute. Rester turned around in his chair. Near was still staring at the ground, driving a toy train around on the floor. However, Near's eyes were narrowed and hard with thought.

"Find me everything you can about the death of Anthony Skyar. I'll have Roger do the same thing," Near said firmly. Rester nodded and turned back to his screen. Mello raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you've got Roger working for you, too?" he said incredulously. "Who don't you have?"

Sensing the comment needed no response, Near gave none and buried himself in his thoughts. Mello sighed, slipped off his perch, and wandered out of the room to find more chocolate. Near let him go.

 _I trust him enough to know that he'll be back_ , Near thought, and then applied himself to the problem at hand. _So Gevanni has something for me. Most likely another case. If it's anything like the ones we've been dealing with recently, it won't be much of a challenge. But…if it was a case like that, Gevanni wouldn't be so desperate to meet with me, and he wouldn't have called Lidner up here._

 _So what could've shaken him so much? Gevanni's usually pretty cool headed. The only time he's showed any hesitation on the job was during the Kira case…_

Near's hand stopped pushing around the train. His eyes flashed open as the thought came to him.

 _Unless…it's highly unlikely, especially so long after the original event…but then again, there's another Death Note, and Mello's the Shinigami who has it. That was pretty unlikely in the first place. So it's possible…there's the slightest chance that the Kira case is going to come up again very soon._

Near wouldn't deny it; part of him was actually excited about another case, one that might possibly pose a challenge. With Near's intellect, the type of problems he'd been dealing with since becoming L a year ago didn't keep him challenged for very long. Every once in a while, some case would come along that posed a bit of a problem, but once it was over Near was once again left with nothing to put his mind to.

Which might have been why he'd accepted Mello as quickly as he had. It gave him something to occupy his time, sure, but there may have been another reason. The fact was, even while at the orphanage, which was full of plenty of other gifted and genius children, Near has still been the odd one out. He was the one that stayed inside by himself while the others went out and played. He was the one who scored perfects on every test they ever took. He was the strange one, the obvious choice for succeeding L. And yet, he was still extremely alone.

And then there was Mello. He was always one step behind Near. Mello was always the aggressive one, as opposed to Near's quiet, soft personality. Mello had always been the more ambitious one of the two, the one who had actually seemed like he wanted to succeed L. Near had honestly never really felt a strong type of motivation towards anything, at least not the way Mello had. Near just kind of went through the motions.

Until the Kira case, that is. There had been motivation there. L had given his life for that cause, and that was enough to get Near involved. The same was true for Mello, thought at first they were rivals in the case. And as Near was close to cornering Kira, Mello had been killed by going after Takada. And just like that, Near was alone. He had beaten Kira, but lost everyone he'd ever been close to.

And then it was back to going through the motions, this time as the new L. Sure, he had Rester and Gevanni, and occasional contact with Aizawa, but it wasn't the same. They weren't on the same level that Near was; and that wasn't arrogance, it was a fact that everyone knew. The only two people that had been the closest to Near's level had been L, Mello, and Matt. And all three were gone, defeated by Kira.

Now, suddenly, things were different; Mello was back. Sure, he was a Shinigami and there was the whole get-me-back-to-a-human-or-get-me-into-an-afterlife thing, but still…

The fact was, Near had missed Mello, he could almost have said he needed Mello. After being alone for so long…

 _It'll be interesting to have him again_ , Near thought to himself, his eyes closed in his musings. _Whether he likes it or not, he was honestly a big assistance in the Kira case. And if this new development with Gevanni is what I think it may be, it'd be a good idea to have Mello working on this too._

Near was so completely lost in his thoughts that he had no idea how much time had passed until Rester suddenly spoke.

"L," he said. Near started a little and looked up with his normally blank face. Rester nodded toward one of the smaller screens, one of the several that showed the views of the security cameras placed around the building. A young man with black hair in a neat suit was standing outside, glancing around in a rather nervous manner.

"Gevanni's here," Rester said, rather unnecessarily. Near kept his eyes on the screen as he replied, "Please let him in, Captain Rester. And then meet me up here again. Also, did you get us a strong connection with Aizawa?"

"Yes. And I also sent a message to Roger while I was at it. You seemed preoccupied."

Rester pushed his chair back and exited the room. Near kept his eyes on the security footage, watching Gevanni wait anxiously for Rester to come and open the door.

At that moment, Mello suddenly strode back into the room. Somehow, he'd managed to find a bar of chocolate and was casually biting off a piece of it.

"Found it," he muttered triumphantly. He came over and stood beside Near, following the small figure's gaze up to the cameras.

"That's…Gevanni, right?" Mello asked. Near remained silent. Mello looked down at his former peer.

"Near?" he asked.

"Could it be Kira?" Near muttered softly, speaking to himself rather than Mello. "Is that really the most likely assumption? And if so, what could it be? And why so late after Kira's death, but just after Mello showed up?"

Near's voice, already extremely soft normally, seemed almost inaudible. Mello looked back up at the screen and saw Gevanni following Rester into the building.

"Isn't Lidner supposed to be here, too?" Mello asked. Near sounded preoccupied as he responded.

"Yes, but she was in America as of yesterday. Depending on when Gevanni called her last night, it'll take her a few hours to get here."

"I'd say more than a few if she was in America," Mello remarked. He looked at Near sharply.

"Hey, Near."

Something in Mello's voice made Near look up at the Shinigami. Mello's eyes were narrowed and one hand was fiddling with the Death Note hanging from his belt.

"Hmm?" Near made a questioning mumble. Mello's voice seemed to have a slightly dangerous hint to it.

"When Lidner gets here, you're going to tell them, aren't you?"

It wasn't really a question. Mello knew what Near's answer was going to be.

"I assume you're referring to you and your Death Note being here," Near responded with a light air to his monotone voice. "Yes, I'm planning on telling them. I'm also going to tell Aizawa and the others about the situation as well."

Near looked curiously at Mello's face.

"What's wrong? You already said it was fine if I told them," Near asked. The corner of his mouth was slightly curved into one of his smirks. Mello locked his hard blue eyes with Near's unreadable dark ones.

"I am fine with it. As long as you're still helping me," Mello said firmly. "I'm not here for you or anybody else. I'm here because I need help and, unfortunately, you're the only one who can help me."

"I understand that," Near said, his voice unconcerned. "In fact, I assumed you'd say something along those lines."

"Good," Mello said, and took a rather violent bite of chocolate. Near turned back to staring at the floor.

"By the way, Mello," he said, "even though no-one else can see you, won't they be able to see anything you're eating?"

Mello eyed the candy in his hand curiously.

"Yeah, I suppose they can," he decided.

"Then I'd be careful of eating it when Rester and Gevanni get back."

"Shouldn't be too hard if I just stand in the corner where I am," Mello said, waving away the command. "Look, I'll worry about not frightening your subordinates, you worry about explaining the Death Note and the Shinigami."

At that moment, Rester and Gevanni walked into the room. Mello fell silent and stepping back slightly into the shadows. (Of course, he could have just stopped eating, but that thought never entered his mind for more than a second.) Without turning to greet the newcomers, Near spoke up.

"Hello, Gevanni," he said softly. "Thank you, Rester."

"Of course," Rester said, more from habit than from necessity. Gevanni seemed to be holding back a lot of nervous energy, and his face was rather tight with worry.

"Near," he acknowledged to the greeting. "Sorry to cut to the point like this, but we may have a problem."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Near asked, his voice not changing at all.

"Kira."

Rester and Mello turned sharply towards Gevanni.

 _Near was right_ , Mello said, thinking back to Near's earlier mumblings. _But Kira's dead. Unless he somehow remembered like I did. If he'd used the Death Note, he'd have ended up as a Shinigami maybe, and it's possible that he'd come back and then we're all screwed if that happens…but that can't be it._

Near didn't turn fully around to face Gevanni, but his eyes angled back sharply.

"Kira?" he asked softly. Gevanni nodded.

"Or at least, someone connected to him, which I'd consider just as dangerous. You know that there have been several branches of the Kira worshippers and their cults."

"Yes, but Gevanni," Rester interrupted. "We can't honestly take them seriously, except to make sure they don't threaten innocent people. Most of those types have already been suppressed, since almost a year ago."

"We had a direct hand in stopping them," Near put in calmly. Mello had to admire the guy; Near held up under pressure extremely well.

Gevanni shook his head.

"Yes, I know, that's what I thought at first," he protested. "But then…this didn't feel like an ordinary encounter; I know it wasn't. Plus, no ordinary Kira worshipper would know that I worked with Near."

"Whoa, what?" Mello said sharply, though nobody except Near could have heard him. Near dropped his knee down and turned to actually face Gevanni.

"Someone mentioned me to you by that name?" he asked sharply. "By 'Near', not 'L'?"

Gevanni nodded. Rester turned to Near, his face shocked.

"But how would they have known that? The only ones who would know that are Aizawa and his force, the SPK, and the previous President of the United States. That president's dead, and I'm pretty sure the others wouldn't have gone over to whatever's left of Kira's side. There's no-one else who'd know about Near or the first L's death."

"Unless they're also from Wammy's house," Mello said, looking at Near. Near glanced at him in acknowledgement.

"That would be the most likely conclusion as of now," he said softly. Gevanni and Rester turned to him.

"What was that, Near?" Rester asked. Near seemed to ignore the question and turned back towards the screens, which were, as of now, blank.

"Gevanni, so far, all you've told me is that there's someone calling himself Kira again," Near said. "And I'm not sure we even know that. Why don't you tell me exactly what happened?"

Gevanni took a breath.

"Well, I'll try," he said, brushing some of his black hair back from his forehead. "So, it was yesterday that it happened. I was going back to my apartment after helping Aizawa wrap up that case you solved with him a few days ago. Actually, since that's about done, I was planning on coming back here in a few days or so, after checking with Rester that it would be okay. Anyway, there weren't that many people on the street that day. But as I was walking by one of the alleys, someone spoke to me, but told me not to turn around. I was already past them, but I stopped when they spoke."

"Did they mention your name?" Near asked casually. It seemed casual, but Mello, as he was the only one in the room with a good view of Near's face, could see the seriousness and concentration in Near's eyes.

"No, he didn't," Gevanni answered.

"And did he have a weapon of any kind? Did he imply he had one?"

"Well, I heard him pull a gun on me," Gevanni said. "Which is why I decided to listen to what he said."

"That was probably a wise decision," Near put in.

"You think?" Mello muttered.

"So I stopped walking, at which he pulled the gun out and told me not to turn around. I could guess what would happen if I did turn. I assume he didn't want me to see his face and tell you later."

"Was there anyone else around you at the time?" Near asked. For the whole conversion, his voice hadn't changed in volume or pitch.

"There were a few people across the street, I think," Gevanni answered hesitantly. "But if you're wondering if anyone else saw what was happening, I'd probably say no. It was getting dark, and the day had been cloudy anyway."

"I was more wondering if he had a partner anywhere nearby," Near said dryly. "But that's alright. Continue."

"So anyway, I stopped and listened to what he said. His voice wasn't abnormal by any means, so I would have a hard time picking him out in a crowd, and of course I never saw his face. But anyway, he told me he worked for someone who had an interest in you, Near."

Rester and Mello shot a glance at Near, but the young boy gave no reaction to what Gevanni was saying.

"He then said that his boss was someone who was connected to Kira. He probably said it to get my attention, but the way he said it made me think he was serious. What really caught my attention was that he seemed to know who Near was. Or at least, his boss knows.

"He went on and told me that he needed me to deliver a message to Near for his boss. Today, around noon he said, this boss of his is going to broadcast this message through Sakura T.V."

"Oh, are those idiots still in business?" Mello groaned. "Thought everyone would be done with them by now."

"Oh, everyone is," Near said softly, so that only Mello could hear him. Mello raised an eyebrow in Near's direction.

"Still," Mello said. "Seems like they're pretty useful in getting a message to the current L."

"It's 'cause those morons are the only ones stupid enough to show a message from an old Kira supporter," Near growled vehemently. Mello looked somewhat amused at that small outburst.

"Was that all he told you, Gevanni?" Near asked, raising his voice slightly more than when he had been speaking to Mello. Gevanni gave a small nod.

"That's pretty much it," he confirmed. "There was one last thing though. Before he slipped off, whoever he was, he said, 'We're keeping you alive right now so you can deliver this to Near, or whatever he's calling himself these days. L or whatever. If you don't give this message to him, we'll find out and no-one wants that to happen. And you won't be the only one to suffer for it. We know who you work for. You get my drift?'

"I told him I did. I heard him slip off into the alley. The moment I thought he was far enough away that I could risk it, I jumped back into the alley and looked down it, but I couldn't see him anywhere."

"That could have been potentially dangerous, Gevanni," Near said simply. "If we're going to work on this case—if it even is a case, 'cause I'm not convinced it is at the moment—you're going to have to refrain from taking pointless risks like that."

Gevanni nodded, but there was a slight smile on his lips.

"After that, I hurried back to my apartment and immediately phoned Rester. I wasn't sure if anyone would be listening on another line, so I didn't say specifically say what I needed to see you about. He had mentioned something earlier about how Lidner was going to be coming out here from America soon, so I contacted her and asked her if she could possibly come out a few days earlier. Turns out she was going to leave within the next day anyway."

"Yeah, she told me this morning that she'd be in Japan this afternoon," Rester said.

"So you have to explain me to her, too?" Mello asked Near, sounding rather indignant for some reason. "How many people do you have living around here?"

Near glared at him.

We'll talk later, Mello, he snapped mentally. Shut up and eat your chocolate.

Mello got the basic thought behind the look and glared back at Near. Near sighed softly and looked up at the blank screens along the wall.

"What time is it now, Rester?" Near asked. Rester glanced at his watch.

"It's almost noon," he responded morosely.

"Then please turn one of the channels to Sakura Television," Near ordered. His eyes were intense and gleaming.

He's enjoying this, Mello realized. But then, so did I when I was still alive.

Rester hit a couple buttons on his control panel, and one of the larger screens suddenly came to life.

After the Kira incidents, Sakura had reverted back to something of what it had been before Kira. Of course, the program was still extremely unreliable and tended to make it their chief goal to always get their watchers interested, even if it meant making certain "facts" up. However, it was probably because of this factor that made them the news show chosen by Second Kira—aka Misa Amane—to send her message to the original Kira. And now, it seemed, another Kira fanatic had decided to use the show to send a message to the new L—Near.

Everyone in the room turned their eyes towards the screen. A neatly dressed man sat behind a table, holding a few sheets of paper in front of him. It looked like a normal news program, much different from the insane Kira programs they had been running a year ago.

"…and as you know," the reporter was saying, "it was a year ago that Kira suddenly disappeared after nearly the whole world accepted him."

"Yeah, sure they did," Mello muttered. Then it occurred to him that he himself had died nearly a year ago, and that thought was enough to silence him for a moment.

"That man's an idiot," Near said plainly, but soft enough that most of the others in the room didn't hear him.

"And as you also know, we at Sakura Television," the man went on, "were some of Kira's biggest supporters."

Near's derisive snort at that comment went unheard by everyone except Mello.

"However, after his disappearance, the world has gone without word from Kira for almost a year. It was even suggested by a few that Kira is dead."

"More than a few believe that, I think," Mello commented. "Probably because he is dead."

"But now," the news man went on rather dramatically, "we have received word from an individual calling himself Kira. Or at least, an associate of Kira. And we have a message from him. We have been instructed to air this message at this time on this channel today. None of us here have actually listened to the message, but we believe it is partly directed towards the man who calls himself 'L'."

Near's eyes narrowed, and one corner of his mouth curved upwards in a small smirk.

"This is the message we received."

The man on screen disappeared, replaced by a white screen with a stylized "K" in the center.

"He's using the same letter to get everyone panicked," Rester muttered. "What's he thinking?"

"Well, if that's his purpose," Mello said to Near, "he's going to succeed. Lots of people will be ready to believe this junk."

Near kept his eyes on the screen as a new voice began to speak. Mello stopped talking to him and looked up as well.

The voice had been electronically edited, so that it was impossible to tell who was speaking, or even if it was a man or a woman speaking.

"I represent Kira," it began, stating it in a very factual way. "I am here to preserve Kira's will and memory, and to once again bring the world to Kira. And I will start with L.

"Or rather, the man who now calls himself L. I, and many others, have reasons to believe that the detective going by L is not the original L that the world knows. That L was defeated by Kira. The L now is nothing, compared to his predecessor. However, I do believe that this L was directly involved with Kira's disappearance a year ago.

"I sent 'L' a message earlier this week. If he's as smart as I think he is, he'll be watching this broadcast and will know to what I am referring to."

"Anthony Skyar," Near said softly. Rester and Gevanni looked at him with surprise, but quickly turned back to the screen as the voice went on.

"This was, and is, my challenge to L. Does he think that he is good enough to compete with and stop me? If he believes he is, and if he is as smart as we both believe him to be, he'll do what I say. L, I hope you are watching this right now. If my message was delivered, you will be.

"I am here to avenge Kira. And in doing that, I must destroy you. I find it only fair that I tell you this beforehand. I would like to meet with you, L, to ask some questions about Kira. I can understand you not wanting to meet me since I am here to end you. You do not need to worry about that; I cannot kill you, or anybody else, like Kira could.

"Basically, my challenge to you is this: meet with me three days from now at the location of my choice. I promise I will not kill you or anything. I just want to talk. I'll let you know the location. Being L, you'll pick up on it right away.

"This is only starting, L. We both know how this has to end; the same way it ended with Kira. Only one of us can be left standing. Prepare yourself."

Abruptly, the recording cut off and the screen went back to the reporter sitting behind his desk. Nobody in the room really registered what he was saying. Everyone's eyes were focusing on Near.

Near stared at the news channel for a while in silence. His dark eyes were unreadable. Every part of him was still, so much so that Mello partly wondered if Near was actually asleep.

Finally, Near blinked and dropped his knee down away from its normal position against his chest.

"Well, I had some hope for that," he said airily. "But now…I'm afraid it won't be worth my time."

Gevanni and Rester looked at him in amazement.

"Really, Near?" Rester asked uncertainly. "This doesn't seem a little bit serious to you?"

"Oh, I suppose it's serious. But not the way I was hoping. To be honest, I was hoping to have another case like Kira's. But this looks like this'll be the simple case of a stupid follower trying to create the same reaction that Kira did. I'm surprised he didn't just come out and say that he's Kira," Near muttered, twirling some strands of his hair between his fingers.

Mello was watching the screen with a surprising amount of interest.

"But if we go with that idea," Mello began musingly, taking a thoughtful bite of chocolate, "the fact that he was able to broadcast this at all is pretty impressive. And would he have mentioned all that stuff about meeting you and knowing who you are if he was just a delusional follower of a dead criminal? Granted, he's probably delusional, but I think you get what I'm trying to say. A simple follower would have no clue about L's death, or the fact that you go by 'Near'."

"That's a good point," Near replied. "Which is why I'm considering looking into this. Besides the fact that we're probably going to get a panicked call from Aizawa any second now."

Near, as was a habit of his, was acting oblivious to the fact that Rester and Gevanni were still in the room. The two men were now growing more confused by the second, as Near appeared to be having a conversation with himself.

"Ah, Near?" Gevanni asked hesitantly. "What are you talking about?"

Near sighed and stopped twirling his hair. He straightened up a little, as he tended to do after coming to a decision.

"Captain Rester, Gevanni, there's something you need to know," Near announced. Ignoring the shocked and confused looks he was getting, Near continued, "However, I want Lidner to be here before I explain. Also, Gevanni, I'm assuming Josephs will be showing up today as well?"

Theo Josephs was an American who had recently come to work for Near. Considering that, when the SPK had started off, they had at least ten members working for them, having just three plus Near was quite a shift. Actually, most of Near's team had been killed when the Death Notes were shifting between Kira, the Japanese Kira Task Force, and Mello with his Mafia members. Near had gotten used to Lidner, Gevanni, and Rester, and honestly the fewer people the better in Near's opinion. However, Rester had though it would be a good idea to allow the United States to send another one of their men to work with the former SPK members. Something about showing their support of L, but Near was pretty sure it was just a political statement. Either way, Josephs had been with Near's team for a few months now, and he was a valuable man to have around. He had been doing some work with the Japanese police but was supposed to return to headquarters once that work was done. Considering that Gevanni was done wrapping up the case with Aizawa, Josephs should be done with the police.

"Yes, he mentioned something about coming today," Gevanni answered in a hesitant manner. Despite working with Near for over 5 years now, the small 18 year old still confused Gevanni, as well as anyone else who worked with Near.

"Then he should probably be here as well," Near said, more to himself now. Raising his voice back to its original volume, he asked, "Rester, how long until Lidner gets here?"

"She said less than two hours," Rester said, referring to his last contact with Lidner a few minute ago.

"Right. Send Aizawa a message that we're busy right now, but that I'll be calling him back within the next three hours. Also tell him that we saw the broadcast on Sakura T.V," Near ordered. Rester nodded.

"Near, may I ask what's going on? I thought this Kira guy or whoever he is was our chief problem," Gevanni asked.

"Yes, I suppose it is now. However, something else came up last night that I haven't had the chance to explain yet. I would like Josephs and Lidner to be here when I explain that. And I'd like all your thoughts on that and this new problem that we just watched before I contact Aizawa and get his opinion."

"Is there another problem we should be worried about right now?" Gevanni asked. The last thing he wanted was two cases going on at the same time. The Kira case had as much pressure as he wanted to feel in a while.

"A problem? Well," Near paused and glanced up at Mello. Still looking at the Shinigami, he answered with, "That depends on your definition."


	8. Chapter 8

8.

"Looks like everyone I need is here now," Near said. It was a few hours after the Sakura T.V. broadcast, and everyone was gathered next to Near. Lidner and Josephs had recently arrived, and, having watched the Sakura broadcast on their own, were as up-to-date on the situation as anyone else. Now, the two of them plus Rester and Gevanni were waiting for Near to speak. The small, quiet L was still seated on the floor.

"Might as well get it over with," Near said quietly. He stood and lightly dusted himself off. He straightened himself up and turned to face the others.

"Like I mentioned to Rester and Gevanni, and what they probably mentioned to you guys," he began, addressing Lidner and Josephs, "a new situation came up last night that I never had a chance to bring up with the rest of you. Depending on your definition, this may or may not be a problem. In my opinion, it's not as a big as the possible threat of a worldwide Kira panic.

"But anyway, it's this new development that I want to talk with you all about. You're some of the few people I trust now, and honestly, I'd like your advice."

Near paused and looked at the faces before him. Rester and Gevanni looked as concerned and confused as they had those few hours ago. Lidner had her classic poker face on, but Near could detect the unease threatening to break out. Lidner hadn't changed all these years; same pale blonde hair, same neat appearance, and the same unreadable expressions, except in times like this.

Josephs, on the other hand, had the type of face that tended to show whatever he was feeling at that time. His slightly tousled brown hair added to his worried expression, as did his earnest hazel eyes. He was dressed in a suit similar to Gevanni's, except that his jacket was brown instead of black. Despite his worry, he seemed to be holding himself together nicely.

I guess this is the first time he's going to have firsthand experience with something that could be connected to Kira, Near thought. Honestly, I'm kind of impressed that he's doing this well.

"So," Near went on, "I'll stop beating around the bush and tell you what's going on."

He turned to look over his shoulder at where Mello was sitting on the control board. Mello looked up at Near.

"Oh, we're doing this now?" he exclaimed, though it didn't seem like he actually wanted that question answered. Mello, Near had realized, had the habit of saying things just for the sake of talking.

"Yes, we are," Near said, answering Mello's question anyway. "Now, if you don't mind, can I borrow it?"

"Borrow what? Oh, my Death Note. Yeah, here," Mello replied, turning slightly to unclip the Death Note from his belt.

"Thank you," Near said. Behind him, he heard Gevanni say, "Uh, Near?" Near turned to see the other four looking at him with no small amount of shock.

"Who…who are you talking to?" Gevanni asked. Near looked at him silently for a moment with unreadable eyes.

"I'll explain everything, I promise. But I have to explain everything in order otherwise I'll get confused and then things get messy. Anyway, this is what came first."

To the four watching, it looked like Near reached out into the shadowy edge of the room, sort of underneath one of the screens on the far wall, and pulled his hands back with something in them. The object he held with both hands was square-ish, thin, and black. Near turned slightly so that the others could see very clearly what it was, tipping it down towards them.

"Is that…?" Lidner trailed off, shaking her head with disbelief.

"No, it can't be!" Gevanni protested, his voice raised. "You told us you destroyed them all, Near! We watched you destroy them all!"

"All the ones in the human world at the time," Near said softly. Josephs leaned over to Lidner, who was standing beside him.

"Lidner?" he asked. "What is that?"

Lidner's voice seemed strained as she answered him.

"That…that's a Death Note," she said. Josephs gave a small gasp and turned sharply towards Near.

"That thing? That's what they look like?"

"Would all of you calm down? Please?" Near asked, raising his voice slightly. The others fell silent, staring at him in shocked silence. Rester took a small step forward.

"Near, you said that you destroyed all the ones in the human world 'at the time'," he said hesitantly. "Does that mean that…this Death Note, the one you're holding…is a new one? That just fell into the human world?"

"That is correct," Near said simply. Hearing him say it so calmly, so matter-of-factly, was enough to stun the rest into complete silence.

"But…why?" Gevanni managed to get out. Near gave them a slightly amused look, which was as close to an actual emotion as he ever got.

"I'll admit, I'm a little disappointed in you all," Near said. "I'd have thought you could have kept your composure better than this."

"Sorry, Near, but this is a little concerning," Rester said, sounding almost as though he was putting up with an uncompromising child (which, in a sense, he was).

"Hold it, back to the Death Note, please," Lidner broke in, stepping forward. "How did it get here in the first place? Near, how'd you get ahold of it? I'm assuming you just found or received it or whatever recently, or else we probably would have heard about it before now. Also, who had it first? That's what I'm concerned about right now."

Rester appeared to be thinking back as he spoke, "Well, Kira had the other Death Notes, but those were destroyed a year ago. We're sure of that. So this is a new notebook, which means Kira probably never had it, unless it's been hidden for a year. I'm assuming that's not the case, so that means…"

He stopped and stared at Near.

"…That means that a Shinigami brought it. And you somehow got ahold of it."

"Well, finally!" Mello exclaimed. "It's about time someone remembered me."

"We're getting to you, be quiet," Near said over his shoulder. Realization dawned on Gevanni's face, replaced with something akin to fear.

"Near?" Rester asked. "Is there a Shinigami in this room right now?"

"Yes, there is," Near answered. Everyone else gave an involuntary start and nervously glanced around the room.

"A Shinigami came to the human world?" Lidner asked. "And gave you a Death Note? But why you?"

"Well," Near glanced over his shoulder and said, "I should probably have him explain that."

"How's he going…oh, the Death Note," Gevanni finished his own question. His eyes were large and he kept glancing around the room like a cornered animal. Part of his job during the Kira case had been to steal Teru Mikami's Death Note and see if there was a Shinigami attached to him. As a result, Gevanni was done dealing with Death Notes and Shinigamis, and the fact that there was one of each in the room at the moment didn't make him too comfortable.

"What's the Death Note got to do with anything?" Josephs asked. Lidner glanced back at him before replying, "In order to see the Shinigami attached to the notebook, you have to touch the notebook or a part of it. Apparently, we'll have to brief you on all that info on the Kira case. But that's the least of our worries right now."

Lidner turned back to Near as Rester spoke.

"All right, Near," the tall man said. "I'm guessing we all need to touch that notebook in order to see this Shinigami. And you're going to let us do that?"

Near glanced back at Mello.

"I'm going to give it to them, okay?" he said. Mello shrugged.

"Yeah, might as well go through with it," he answered. "You've talked enough, anyways."

"Alright, Rester," Near said, turning back. "Here."

The small boy handed the notebook to the older man. Rester took it in both hands, allowing Gevanni, Lidner, and Josephs to reach out and touch the notebook as well.

"Well, guess this is my cue, then," Mello said nonchalantly, and slipped off from where he was sitting. The four SPK members looked up in surprise. "You all can see me now, I presume?"

It looked like Rester was about to drop the notebook in shock.

"What…what the hell?" he muttered. Lidner took a step back, breathing, "Mello?!"

Gevanni had the fastest reaction of anyone.

"You…wha…what the hell are you doing here?!" he shouted. Mello held up his hands quickly.

"Calm down, okay? I…"

He didn't get any farther than that. Gevanni's hand had flown to his back pocket and whipped out the gun he always carried.

"Gevanni, wait!" Near called out. Gevanni either didn't hear or didn't listen. He spun the gun around into the correct position, quickly aimed, and pulled the trigger.

Mello didn't have any time to react. The bullet flew through his chest and smashed in the wall behind him. Mello staggered back a pace, doubling himself up, then took a small gasp and straightened up, shaking a few strands of hair back from his face.

"Wow, that…felt really weird," he said. "I really wasn't expecting that."

Gevanni's hands, both gripping the gun, started shaking.

"How…what?" He couldn't comprehend what was happening. The bullet had passed straight through Mello, not hurting him at all.

"Gevanni!" Near spoke sharply. He hadn't moved for most of the scene, but his intense stare was fixed on his subordinate. "Put the gun down. I told you before, didn't I? It's rather rude to point those at people."

"Rather rude to shoot them at people, too," Mello muttered. Seeing Gevanni's incredulous look, Mello went on, "You can't kill a Shinigami with something like that, anyway. I would assume you already knew that."

Gevanni let the hand holding the gun fall to his side. He blinked but couldn't say anything. He seemed to remember knowing that Shinigami couldn't be killed, but had forgotten it until Mello reminded him. Or at least, he hadn't been thinking of that in the heat of the moment. Near sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Well, this is going well," he grumbled. "Please, no-one else pull out a gun or do anything stupid. Please. Now then, if you'd all just calm down, we can explain. Well, as much as we can."

He looked around at the others expectantly. No-one said anything.

"Thank you," he said curtly. "Now, if there are no more outbursts like that, I can explain."

 _(Author's Thoughts: Boy, that was bad. Maybe it wasn't, but I felt like it was. We'll just write this down as happening, but as a bad piece of writing and move on… There's a time lapse here, so don't be confused. *Sigh* I'm not feeling this today.)_

"So," Rester said, trying to make sense of everything in his head. "You're a Shinigami now, because you used the Death Note as a human. But you don't want to be a Shinigami anymore, and to accomplish that, you need a human's help. So Near agreed to help you. Do I have that right?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Mello responded from where he was once again sitting on the shelf-top. Near, with Mello occasionally adding things, had explained why Mello was alive (sort of) and how he needed Near's help. Honestly, none of the others would have believed it…except for that fact that, after being forced to accept that Shinigami and Death Notes and Kira existed, this wasn't really anything new. Plus, Mello was right in front of them, so it was hard to write off.

"Near," Lidner said, narrowing her eyes. "How do you know you can trust Mello?"

Near had seated himself on the floor after his explanation and was playing with a couple toy vehicles. He glanced up for a second.

"I don't understand what you mean," he said in his perfectly controlled voice.

"What I think she means," Gevanni said, glancing at Lidner for her permission to continue, "is that all you have to go on is Mello's word. It's not like any of us would have trusted him while he was alive, and I don't think we ever really trusted any of the Shinigami."

"Nor should you," Mello put in, appearing very relaxed and almost disinterested. "You can never tell what those guys are thinking."

He had made the comment more to himself but had still managed to interrupt Gevanni, who cast an irritated look at the Shinigami.

"Mello," Near said, "please shut up and let Gevanni finish."

Mello cast an amused look at Near and shrugged. Gevanni went on.

"My point is, how do you know that this is why Mello's here? What if he has some other reason for coming back, especially to you of all people?"

"You know, I'm right here," Mello muttered.

"Mello…" Near said warningly. The Shinigami went silent, though a slight look of irritation passed over his face. Near looked up from what he was doing to face his team.

"To try to answer your concerns, Gevanni, the most I can say is that you'll have to trust me. I have some reasons for what I do, but I'm not sure if you'd understand."

"Try us, okay?" Josephs put in. Near looked at him with a little bit of surprise, as he tended to forget about Josephs more often than not. He'd worked with a select group of people for so long, the new team member often took him by surprise.

I know next to nothing about him, as well, Near realized with a slight bit of concern. Pushing that off for later, he gave a small smile.

"Okay then. First, I don't think Mello has any reason to lie. There's no way he can really accomplish anything as a Shinigami that he wanted to accomplish as a human. I can't think of many good reasons for him to come down to the human world and associate with me again, of all people.

"Second, I assume the reasons you're thinking of would be something along the lines of Mello's goal being to kill us. It crossed my mind, but I ruled that out pretty soon. If Mello wanted to kill us, he would have done it before now. He knows all our names, and he doesn't even have to be next to us to do it. And going off of what I know of Mello's personality, he's not the type to be patient about this sort of thing.

"And third, Mello wouldn't be able to lie this convincingly about something like this. No offense or anything," Near concluded, aiming this last comment at Mello. Mello shrugged it off. Near decided to refrain from mentioning what else he had been thinking: that Mello, even being the more emotional of L's successors, would never had come as close to breaking down as he had if he hadn't been telling the truth about his situation. He was much too prideful to have broken down in front of anyone, much less Near. Despite Near's feelings about Mello, Mello's opinion on Near was fairly clear for all to see.

"As for Mello choosing me," Near went on, "I pretty sure I'm the only human that he's really had contact with when he was alive. And, Mello, I think I'm the only one you feel you can trust in this situation. Am I right?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Mello answered, looking irritated at the fact that he had to depend on Near of all people to help. Near looked slightly amused by this, but turned towards the others.

"Any other questions at the moment? Or can I call up Aizawa and the others now? They need to know about the situation. We also need to collaborate on figuring out this new case that's come up."

Rester glanced at the others, but everyone, though still looking dissatisfied and concerned, seemed to have asked all that they needed to know for the moment.

"I think that'll be all for now, Near," he said. "Personally, I just hope you know what you're doing."

"I usually do, Rester," Near responded. Mello almost laughed at the matter-of-fact way he said it. Rester seemed to be used to this time of thing from Near, as he went on normally.

"As to contacting Aizawa, I agree with you, we should contact them soon. I've got the connection all set up, so we can do that now."

Near stood and brushed himself off.

"Then I'd like to do that now."

Mello suddenly thought of something.

"Hey, Near. What was that whole thing about that American? Skyar or something like that. You mentioned him last night, and I heard you mention him today while the broadcast was running. What is it about him?"

"So I see you've already discussed things with the Shinigami," Josephs broke in, accusingly, before Near could reply. Near was going to ignore the remark, but Mello wasn't about to. He cast an exasperated glare in Josephs' direction.

"When was he going to tell you? Last night, when I first got here? None of you were even here. And no offense, but I'd probably know more about this sort of thing than you would. So please, shut up unless you have something useful to say."

Mello didn't raise his voice, but it clearly carried the sound of his displeasure and exasperation. Josephs looked slightly taken aback. Gevanni and Rester glanced at each other. Mello sighed and turned towards Near, who had slipped into one of the chairs in front of a computer monitor. Near raised an eyebrow at Mello, but didn't say anything. He swiveled the chair around and pulled up several files on the computer screen.

"You want to explain why you took such offense at Josephs's comment, Mello?" he asked softly, looking slightly amused. Mello gave an irritated growl.

"Idiots annoy me," he said simply. "Like he has a better reason than me to know what's going on."

Lidner came over to the other side of Near's chair.

"Are you implying that you have a better idea of what's going on, Mello?" she asked. Mello waved a hand at her impatiently.

"I'm getting there, hold on," he said, leaning down beside Near. "Are these the files on Skyar?"

Near nodded. "Yes, this is what Rester found about him. Personal info, prison records…"

"Anything about the Mafia?" Mello broke in. Near glanced up at him.

"Actually, yeah," he answered slowly. "There was something about that. Why do you ask?"

"Well, if he was with the Mafia within the recent year or so, it's possible I would have met him."

"Well, do you remember him?" Lidner asked, a little confused as to where the conversation had gone.

"No, but what does that prove?" Mello responded. "I didn't remember any of you until…well, time's weird in the Shinigami realm, but I didn't remember until recently."

"Alright, back on topic, please," Near said. "If he was in the Mafia about the same time you were there…"

"He would have been there for the whole Kira thing," Mello interrupted. "Yeah. And if he was there for that, it's very possible he would know something about the…uh, you-know-what."

Near's face never betrayed emotions, but a sudden gleam lit up his dark eyes. "So," he asked, "you're thinking that someone could have found him just for information?"

"Exactly," Mello nodded. "Probably our same Kira-pretender that we just had the displeasure of listening to. And killed him to throw you off, but at the same time he seems to have wanted you to figure this out."

"Alright, time out," Gevanni interrupted, coming forward. "Sorry, Near, but the rest of us aren't geniuses like you are. What would Skyar have known about, and what does he have to do with this Kira guy? For that matter, why does it matter if he knew Mello while Skyar was with the Mafia?"

Mello straightened up and looked over his shoulder at Gevanni and Rester.

"Because if this guy knew about me, then he'd know about the Death Note."

The looks on Gevanni and Rester's faces implied that they were working out the information in their minds.

"I get it," Rester said. "Near, you're thinking that someone who wanted information on the Death Note would try to track down any people who would have had experience with it. And that would include former Mafia members."

Mello nodded. "Exactly."

"But why would they track down Skyar, of all people?" Gevanni asked. "If not even you remember him, Mello, then it's probable that Skyar wouldn't have much information to give on the Death Note, besides the fact that it can kill people."

Mello shrugged.

"It's not like there were a whole lot of Mafia with knowledge of the Death Note after the Task Force raided us. Plus then I blew up the building, so that made things slightly more difficult."

"So you're thinking this Kira-pretender just went to the first Mafia member he could find that would know about the Death Note?" Near said slowly.

"That's what I'm thinking, yes," Mello responded.

"But you yourself said that it's highly unlikely that someone like Skyar would know much about the Death Note, especially if you yourself don't remember him," Rester put in. "What information could they expect to get from someone like him?"

"Well, I'm assuming he'd know the basic workings of the Death Note and possibly some of the rules," Near said, looking at Mello. "Even if you don't remember him, it's still possible Skyar could have been more than a simple underling. It's also possible that he knew about Shinigami."

"We're getting into guessing now, Near," Rester said. Near shrugged.

"The Kira case wasn't much better," he said.

"Uh, I think we had a bit more to go on in that case, Near," Gevanni put in hesitantly.

"Well, I need something to go on," Near said, sounding slightly irritated.

"Back to the case," Lidner said. "Okay, saying that all this is true, how would they get Skyar to tell them what he knows about this? What would be the point of killing him afterwards? And third, why would someone know about the existence of the Death Note, and want that information badly enough to track down informants?"

"It's likely that Skyar was promised something in return for his information," Mello said. "Money, power, something…honestly, you could get those types of guys to do anything for stuff like that."

"And you'd know, wouldn't you?" Gevanni muttered. Mello glared at him, but Near quickly picked up where Mello left off.

"I'm assuming that these people—whoever they are—would kill Skyar so that he in turn wouldn't tell anyone else about meeting these people. Given what I know about people like Skyar, it'd be pretty easy for him to become a double agent for the right price. For example, if I knew about his connection with this new 'Kira' and if Skyar were still alive, the first thing I'd be doing would be to track down Skyar and find out if he knows what these people want. Killing him prevented any of that from happening.

"Now, as to these people knowing of the existence of the Death Note," Near went on, "I think that information isn't quite as secret as we'd like to believe it is. And this new 'Kira' seems to have a habit of knowing things that he shouldn't. He knew that Gevanni worked for me, he somehow was certain I'd pick up on the fact that he organized the death of a random American criminal, he knows about L's death, and he knew my real name. I'm not saying this guy is as good as Light Yagami, but he certainly is intriguing."

"Anything else you gathered from this, Near?" Rester asked. Mello detected the incredulousness in Rester's face at Near's process of reasoning. Honestly, Mello himself felt like they may be stretching their deductions a little bit. Near apparently didn't pick up on any of this.

"Yes, I think that's about all," Near said in his curt, soft voice. "Rester, please connect me to Aizawa so I can tell him the good news."

"Uh, what good news, Near?" Gevanni asked. To him, the situation looked pretty bad.

Near, still looking at the computer screen, grinned.

"I have a new case. We'll see how challenging it proves, and I probably shouldn't get my hopes up, but this might have promise.

"Plus," Near went on, with a sideways glance at Mello, "now I have a partner."

It took Mello a moment to understand the implication.

"Wait, what? Me?" he asked incredulously. Near shrugged one shoulder.

"Why not? That is, unless you don't want to help for some reason," Near said. He may have been imagining it, but Mello thought he could detect a trace of disappointment in Near's voice.

That's interesting, he thought. Mello sighed resignedly and shrugged.

"Sure, I guess I'll work with you. I mean, I've got nothing better to do. Just as long as you still keep in mind why I'm here in the first place."

"Of course," Near said, the hint of a smile playing on the corners of his mouth. "So, Rester, please call up Aizawa. There's a lot I have to tell him."

"Yes, I'm on it," Rester said, turning away from Near. Leaning over to Gevanni, he whispered, "Let's just hope none of us live to regret this."

Gevanni knew what he was talking about and nodded.

"It comes to whether or not we trust Near. And I think he's proven to us time and again that we usually have no choice but to trust him."

Rester nodded. "You're right, of course." He turned as Josephs came up to him. "Need something, Josephs?"

"Not exactly," Josephs said. "There's some stuff that still needs to be worked on with recent cases, the Japanese police, and whatnot. I was going to ask for permission to take care of that while Near—L gets ready for this new case. Gevanni, if there's anything you didn't get to wrap up, let me know and I'll try to take care of it for you."

"Thanks, Josephs," Gevanni said. "Rester, if you don't mind, I'll go with Josephs to help him for a bit."

"That's fine, Gevanni," Rester replied, going over to his computer to patch Near through to Aizawa. "Just hurry back, 'cause I think Near probably wants you here for this. Josephs, you sure you won't be needed here?"

Josephs gave a small laugh. "No, it's you guys he trusts," he said, gesturing towards near. "I'm tech support."

"Well, if you're fine with it, you can go," Rester said. He started pressing different keys on his computer as Josephs and Gevanni left the room. Soon, this room would be in connection with Aizawa and his Japanese Task Force, and they could all get to the bottom of this new Kira thing.

In Rester's opinion, that couldn't happen soon enough.

In a secret base of operations, hidden in an abandoned building somewhere in Great Britain, a phone rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, the man answered it.

"Yes? Oh, it's you, good. Go ahead and report."

A voice, edited by the phone so that it couldn't be recognized, said, "Everything's going according to plan. He's taking the case."

The man allowed himself a small laugh, which probably sounded strange over the phone, as his voice also was being edited so that it couldn't be recognized. Of course, they both knew who was on the other line, but it was a good security measure.

"Good. Stay where you are. I'll be sending our little 'L' a new message soon. I think it's time I went to Japan."

 _(Sorry if this last bit if confusing. It's supposed to be, but it's also supposed to make sense later. Hopefully. Anyway, sorry if this chapter is a little weird, but I wrote it off and on for about three months, all around school and finals, so if parts are bad or confusing, that's probably why. I'll try to write faster next time. However, I'm a notoriously slow writer, so chapter 9 may take a while. Sorry about that, but I promise I'm still working on it. Also, I know some people are following this, so I'll try to be more productive for you guys._ _J_ _)_


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